^>c 


K  SEP  29  1931 

tDa.viesS,     .-:  <&£,„  „ 

INTRODUCTORY    ESSAY 

ON   THE 

LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF   THE    AUTHOR. 


BY 


ALBERT  BARNES. 


President  Davies'  Sermons,  in  the  editions  which  have  been 
heretofore  published  in  this  country,  have  been  preceded  by  the 
following  discourses:  (1.)  A  sermon  entitled  "The  disinterested 
and  devoted  Christian,  preached  at  Nassau  Hall,  Princeton,  May 
28,  1761 ;  occasioned  by  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Davies, 
A.M.,  late  President  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  by  Samuel 
Finley,  D.D.,  President  of  the  said  college,"  on.  Rom.  xiv.  7,  8. 
(2.)  A  brief  "Appendix"  annexed  to  the  above  sermon,  contain- 
ing some  of  the  leading  facts  in  the  life  of  President  Davies.  (3.) 
Two  sermons  entitled,  "  Divine  Conduct  Vindicated,"  preached  at 
Haberdashers'  Hall,  London,  March  29,  1761,  on  the  decease  of 
President  Davies,  by  Thomas  Gibbons,  D.D.  (4.)  An  essay  on 
the  character  of  President  Davies,  by  Rev.  David  Bostvvick,  M.A., 
of  New  York. 

In  issuing  a  new  edition  of  these  sermons  from  the  press,  it 
has  been  thought  best  to  omit  these  discourses ;  to  arrange  the 
facts  in  regard  to  the  life  of  President  Davies  which  they  furnish ; 
to  add  such  other  facts  as  could  be  obtained  from  other  sources, 
and  to  suggest  some  considerations  which  might  illustrate  the 
nature  of  the  ministry  which  is  demanded  in  the  present  age. 
Much  of  the  matter  found  in  the  discourses  prefixed  to  the  former 
editions  has  little  relevancy  to   the  questions  which  are  asked 


•  • 


Xll  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

respecting  President  Da  vies,  and  would  be  of  little  use  to  those 
-who  might  desire  to  avail  themselves  of  the  aid  which  may  be 
derived  from  the  study  of  his  writings,  in  qualifying  themselves 
.  for  the  work  of  the  ministry. 

In  preparing  this  Introductory  Essay,  I  have  been  materially 
aided  by  the  "  Notes  "  on  the  life  of  President  Davies  in  the  Ap- 
pendix to  the  Baccalaureate  Discourses  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Green, 
delivered  in  Nassau  Hall,  and  also  by  several  interesting  commu- 
nications addressed  to  me  by  the  Rev.  William  Hill,  D.D.,  of 
"Winchester,  Virginia.  In  the  communications  which  Dr.  Hill 
had  the  kindness  to  make  for  this  Introductory  Essay — to 
whom  I  desire  in  this  manner  to  make  most  grateful  acknowl- 
edgments— he  has  presented  views  of  the  state  of  religion  in 
Virginia  before  the  time  of  Mr.  Davies'  settlement,  and  of  the 
effects  of  his  labors,  of  great  interest.  No  man  living  has  had  bet- 
ter opportunities  of  being  familiar  with  the  character  and  effect  of 
Mr.  Davies'  labors  ;  and  I  am  thankful  that  I  am  permitted  to  be 
the  instrument  in  this  manner  of  preserving  so  many  valuable 
reminiscences  of  his  life.  The  communications  of  Dr.  Hill  are 
preserved  mainly  in  his  own  language. 

The  Reverend  Samuel  Davies  was  born  on  the  third  day  of 
November,  A.D.  1724,  in  the  county  of  Newcastle,  then  in  the 
province  of  Pennsylvania,  but  now  in  the  state  of  Delaware.  He 
is  supposed  to  have  been  of  Welsh  descent,  both  by  his  father's 
and  mother's  side.  His  father  was  a  farmer,  who  lived  with 
great  plainness  and  simplicity,  and  who  supported  the  character 
of  an  honest  and  pious  man.*  He  died,  says  Dr.  Hill,  when 
Samuel  was  young.  His  mother  survived  him  but  a  short  time. 
She  was  a  woman  of  eminent  piety,  and  of  very  superior  natural 
powers  of  mind  ;  and  the  distinguished  piety  and  usefulness  of 
her  son,  is  one  among  the  many  instances  which  have  occurred 
where  the  prayers  and  example  of  a  pious  mother  have  been  sig- 
nally blessed. 

He  was  an  only  son.  By  maternal  feelings  and  vows  he  had 
been  devoted  to  God  ;  and  the  name  Samuel  was  given  to  him 
by  his  mother,  as  an  expression  of  the  same  feelings  which  had 

*  "  He  was  a  man  of  small  property,  of  intellectual  endowments  rather 
below  than  above  the  common  level,  of  unpolished  manners,  but  of  a  blame- 
less life.*'— Dh.  Gbekn 


OF    THE   AUTHOR.  Xlll 

• 

led  to  the  bestowment  of  the  name  on  the  distinguished  prophet. 
1  Sam.  i.  11.  He  remained  with  his  parents  until  he  was  about 
ten  years  of  age,  and  was  taught  by  his  mother,  there  being  no 
school  in  the  vicinity.  His  progress  in  these  early  years  is  spoken 
of  as  such  as  to  attract  attention,  and  as  indicating  uncommon  prom- 
ise. During  this  period  of  his  life,  it  is  not  known  that  he  had 
any  impressions  of  special  seriousness.  He  is  described  as  a  boy 
of  uncommon  sprightliness ;  as  demeaning  himself  with  propri- 
ety, and  as  making  rapid  progress  in  his  studies. 

At  about  ten  years  of  age,  he  was  sent  to  an  English  school  at 
some  distance  from  his  father's,  where  he  continued  two  years, 
and  made  great  progress  in  learning.  Away  from  his  father's 
home,  however,  and  lacking  the  counsel  and  example  of  his 
pious  parents,  his  mind  became  more  careless  on  the  subject  of 
religion.  Yet  he  was  then  in  the  habit  of  secret  prayer,  particu- 
larly in  the  evening.  The  reason  why  he  did  this,  as  he  stated 
in  his  diary,  was  that  "  he  feared  lest  he  should  perhaps  die  be- 
fore morning."  It  is  remarkable,  also,  in  his  prayers  at  that 
time,  that  "  he  was  more  ardent  in  his  supplications  for  being  in- 
troduced into  the  gospel  ministry,  than  for  any  other  thing." 

The  first  twelve  years  of  his  life,  however,  he  afterwards  re- 
garded as  having  been  wasted  in  the  most  entire  negligence  of 
God  and  religion.  At  about  this  period  of  his  life,  it  is  probable, 
he  was  brought  to  see  his  need  of  a  Savior,  and  to  devote  him- 
self to  the  service  of  that  God  to  whom  he  had  been  consecrated 
by  the  vows  and  prayers  of  his  mother.  Of  the  exercises  of  his 
mind  at  that  time,  little  is  now  known.  The  influence  of  his  moth- 
er's example  and  prayers,  and  of  the  fact  that  he  had  been 
early  devoted  by  her  to  God,  is  known  to  have  produced  a  deep 
impression  on  his  own  mind.  In  a  letter  addressed  by  him  many 
years  after  to  a  friend  in  London,  he  says,  "  That  he  was  blessed 
with  a  mother  whom  he  might  account,  without  filial  vanity  or 
partiality,  one  of  the  most  eminent  saints  he  ever  knew  upon 
earth.  And  here,"  says  he,  '*I  cannot  but  mention  to  my  friend 
an  anecdote  known  but  to  few,  that  is,  that  I  am  a  son  of  prayer, 
like  my  namesake  Samuel,  the  prophet ;  and  my  mother  called 
me  Samuel  because,  she  said,  '  I  have  asked  him  of  the  Lord.' 
This  early  dedication  to  God  has  always  been  a  strong  induce- 
ment to  me  to  devote  myself  to  him  as  a  personal  act ;  and  the 


XIV  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

most  important  blessings  of  my  life  I  have  looked  upon  as  im- 
mediate answers  to  the  prayers  of  a  pious  mother." 

What  was  the  immediate  means  by  which  his  mind  was 
awakened  and  which  led  to  his  conversion,  and  what  were  the 
mental  exercises  through  which  he  then  passed,  are  now  un- 
known. ISo  record  that  I  have  been  able  to  find,  has  furnished 
any  light  on  a  question  of  so  much  interest.  Dr.  Green  remarks 
of  him  that  "  he  was  so  deeply  impressed  with  a  rational  sense 
of  his  danger  as  to  make  him  habitually  uneasy  and  restless,  till 
he  obtained  satisfactory  evidence  of  his  interest  in  the  forgiving 
love  of  God.  Yet  he  was  afterwards  exercised  with  perplexing 
doubts  for  a  long  season  ;  but  at  length,  after  years  of  impartial, 
repeated  self-examination,  he  attained  to  a  settled  confidence  in 
redeeming  grace,  which  he  retained  to  the  end  of  life."  At  what 
time  he  connected  himself  with  the  church  is  now  unknown.  It 
is  supposed  to  have  been  when  he  was  about  fifteen  years  of  age. 
His  conversion  was  soon  succeeded  by  a  purpose  to  devote  him- 
self to  the  service  of  God  in  the  ministry. 

He  was  favored  with  a  liberal  education  at  a  Collegiate  In- 
stitution, but  his  preparation  for  the  ministry  was  made  in  a 
more  private  manner.  A  considerable  part  of  his  classical  and 
theological  education  was  acquired  under  the  care  of  Rev.  Samuel 
Blair,  at  Fog's  Memo?',  in  Chester  county,  Pennsylvania.  Mr. 
Blair  was  an  eminent  preacher  as  well  as  scholar,  and  several 
distinguished  men  in  the  Church,  besides  President  Davies,  re- 
ceived their  education  under  his  instruction.  His  academy  was 
designed  mainly  to  train  young  men  for  the  ministry,  and  the 
course  of  instruction  embraced  both  the  classical  and  theological 
departments.  Mr.  Davies  was  then  probably  somewhat  less  than 
fifteen  years  of  age.  It  is  supposed  that  his  poverty  prevented  his 
remaining  there  for  a  longer  period.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that 
while  there,  he  was  supported,  in  part,  as  will  be  mentioned  in 
another  place,  by  funds  contributed  by  the  very  people  of  Vir- 
ginia, among  whom  he  was  afterwards  settled,  but  to  whom  he 
was  at  that  time  wholly  unknown.  Dr.  Finley  remarks  of  him, 
"  His  love  to  God,  and  tender  concern  for  perishing  sinners,  excit- 
ed his  eager  desire  of  being  in. a  situation  to  serve  mankind  to 
the  best  advantage.  With  this  view  he  engaged  in  the  pursuit 
of  learning,  in  which,  amidst  many  obvious  inconveniences,  he 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XV 

made  surprising  progress,  and,  sooner  than  could  have  been  ex- 
pected, was  found  completely  qualified  for  the  ministerial  office. 
He  passed  the  usual  previous  trials  with  uncommon  approbation; 
having  exceeded  the  raised  expectations  of  his  most  intimate 
friends  and  admirers."  He  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Pres- 
bytery of  New  Castle.  His  views  and  feelings,  when  he  was  li- 
censed to  preach  the  gospel,  may  be  learned  from  a  fact  stated  by 
Dr.  Gibbons :  "  When  he  was  about  entering  the  ministry,"  says 
he,  "or  had  not  long  entered  upon  it,  if  I  remember  right,  he  was 
judged  to  be  in  a  deep  and  irrecoverable  consumption.  Finding 
himself  upon  the  borders  of  the  grave,  and  without  any  hopes  of 
recovery,  he  determined  to  spend  the  little  remains  of  an  almost 
exhausted  life,  as  he  apprehended  it,  in  endeavoring  to  advance 
his  Master's  glory  in  the  good  of  souls.  Accordingly  he  removed 
from  the  place  where  he  was,  to  another  about  an  hundred  miles 
distant  that  was  then  in  want  of  a  minister.  Here  he  labored  in 
season  and  out  of  season  ;  and,  as  he  told  me,  preached  in  the 
day,  and  had  his  hectic  fever  by  night,  and  to  such  a  degree  as 
to  be  sometimes  delirious,  and  to  stand  in  need  of  persons  to  sit 
up  with  him." 

I  will  here  insert  an  account  of  the  early  labors  of  Mr.  Davies 
in  the  words  of  Dr.  Hill : 

"From  the  commencement  of  Mr.  Davies1  labors,  after  his  licen- 
sure, to  Ms  settlement  in  Virginia,  from  1745  to  1748. 

"  Mr.  Davies  was  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel  in  1745,  when 
he  was  just  twenty-one  years  of  age.  From  the  intense  applica- 
tion he  paid  to  his  studies,  his  constitution,  naturally  vigorous, 
became  much  impaired,  so  that  when  he  was  licensed,  he  thought 
himself  and  was  thought  by  others,  to  be  laboring  under  a  pul- 
monary affection  which  would,  in  all  likelihood,  cut  short  his 
days.  After  licensure,  Mr.  Davies  visited  many  vacancies,  some 
in  Pennsylvania,  some  in  Jersey,  but  chiefly  in  Maryland.  These 
ministerial  visits  took  place  just  before  and  after  his  first  visit  to 
Virginia.  The  account  he  gives  of  them  is  this.  (See  Mr.  Davies' 
letter  to  Bellamy,  1751.) 

'  In  Maryland  also,  there  has  been  a  considerable  revival,  or 
shall  I  not  rather  call  it  a  first  plantation  of  religion  in  Baltimore 
County,  where,  I  am  informed,  Mr.  Whittlesey  is  likely  to  settle. 
In  Kent  County  and  Queen  Anne's,  a  number  of  careless  sinners 


XVI  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

have  been  awakened  and  hopefully  brought  to  Christ.  The 
work  was  begun  and  chiefly  carried  on  by  the  instrumentality  of 
that  favored  man,  Mr.  Robinson,  whose  success,  whenever  I  re- 
flect upon  it,  astonishes  me.  Oh  !  he  did  much  in  a  little  time  ; 
and  who  would  not  choose  such  an  expeditious  pilgrimage 
through  this  world  ?  There  is  in  these  places  a  considerable  con- 
gregation, and  they  have  made  repeated  essays  to  obtain  a  settled 
minister.  There  was  a  great  stir  about  religion  in  Buckingham, 
a  place  on  the  sea  shore,  about  four  years  ago,  (i.  e.  in  the  year 
1747,  the  time  Mr.  D.  visited  them,)  which  has  since  spread  and 
issued  in  a  hopeful  conversion  in  many  instances.  They  want  a 
minister. — But  the  most  glorious  displays  of  divine  grace  in  Ma- 
ryland have  been  in  and  about  Somerset  County.  It  began,  I  think, 
in  1745,  by  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Robinson,  and  was  afterwards 
carried  on  by  several  ministers  that  preached  transiently  there. 
I  was  there  about  two  months,  [i.  e.  in  1746  or  1747,]  when  the 
work  was  at  its  height,  and  I  never  saw  such  a  deep  and  spread- 
ing concern  :  the  assemblies  were  numerous,  though  in  the  ex- 
tremity of  a  cold  winter,  and  unwearied  in  attending  the  word 
preached  ; — and  frequently  there  were  very  few  among  them  that 
did  not  give  some  plain  indications  of  distress  or  joy.  Oh  !  these 
were  the  happiest  days  that  ever  my  eyes  saw.'  Again,  says  he, 
'after  I  returned  from  ATirginia,  [i.  e.  in  1747,]  I  spent  near  a 
year  under  melancholy  and  consumptive  languishment,  expecting 
death.  In  the  spring,  1748,  I  began  slowly  to  recover,  though  I 
then  looked  upon  it  only  as  an  intermission  of  a  disorder  that 
would  finally  prove  mortal.  But  upon  the  arrival  of  a  messenger 
from  Hanover,  I  put  my  life  in  my  hand,  and  determined  to  ac- 
cept their  call,  hoping  I  might  live  to  prepare  the  way  for  some 
more  useful  successor,  and  willing  to  expire  under  the  fatigues  of 
duty,  rather  than  involuntary  negligence.' 

"  Thus  was  Mr.  Davies  employed,  notwithstanding  the  very  del- 
icate and  precarious  state  of  his  health,  from  the  latter  end  of  the 
year  1745,  when  he  was  licensed,  till  the  spring  of  1748,  when  he 
located  himself  permanently  in  Virginia.  He  was  invited  to  set- 
tle in  several  other  places,  which  ottered  advantages  far  superior 
to  the  one  lie  selected,  on  many  accounts.  Hear  him  tell  his 
own  story  to  the  Bishop  of  London  upon  this  subject.  '  And  I  sol- 
emnly assure  your  Lordship  that  it  was  not  the  secret  thirst  of 


OF    THE   AUTHOR.  XVII 

filthy  lucre,  nor  the  prospect  of  any  other  personal  advantage  that 
induced  me  to  settle  here  in  Virginia.  For,  sundry  congregations 
in  Pennsylvania,  my  native  country,  and  in  other  northern  colo- 
nies, most  earnestly  importuned  me  to  settle  among  them ;  where 
I  should  have  had  at  least  an  equal  temporal  maintenance,  in- 
comparably more  ease,  leisure  and  peace,  and  the  happiness  of 
the  frequent  society  of  my  Brethren ;  and  where  I  should  never 
have  made  a  great  noise  or  bustle  in  the  world,  but  concealed 
myself  in  the  crowd  of  my  superior  brethren,  and  spent  my  life 
in  some  little  service  for  God  and  his  church,  in  some  peaceful 
corner,  which  would  have  been  most  becoming  so  insignificant  a 
creature,  and  more  agreeable  to  my  recluse  natural  temper.  But 
all  these  strong  inducements  were  over-weighed  by  a  sense  of  the 
more  urgent  necessity  of  the  Dissenters  here  ;  as  they  lay  two  or 
three  hundred  miles  distant  from  the  nearest  ministers  of  their 
own  denomination,  and  labored  under  peculiar  embarrassments 
for  the  want  of  a  settled  minister.'  " 

At  this  stage  of  the  notices  of  the  life  of  Mr.  Davies,  when  he 
was  about  to  be  settled  in  Virginia  where  he  exerted  so  import- 
ant an  influence  in  the  cause  of  religion,  it  may  be  interesting  to 
present  a  statement  of  the  condition  of  this  colony  before  he  be- 
gan his  labors  there.     It  will  be  given  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Hill : 

"  A  hasty  sketch  of  the  state  of  religion  in   Virginia  shortly  be- 
fore and  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Samuel  Davies''  settling  in  that  state. 

"  At  the  time  of  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Francis  Makemie,  which 
took  place  in  Accomack  county,  in  the  year  1708,  there  were  two 
organized  churches  in  that  county,  which  he  had  lately  collected 
as  Christain  societies.  One  was  on  a  small  creek  about  five 
miles  from  Drummondton,  the  present  seat  of  government  for  the 
county,  where  Mr.  Makemie  resided  upon  a  valuable  estate 
which  he  there  owned,  and  where  he  had  a  small  meeting-house 
built  and  licensed  as  a  place  of  preaching  according  to  the  provi- 
sions of  the  Act  of  Toleration.  The  other  congregation  was  on 
and  near  the  mouth  of  the  river  Tocomoke,  which  here  consti- 
tutes in  part  the  dividing  line  between  Virginia  and  Maryland. 
Here  also  Mr.  Makemie  owned  a  large  tract  of  land,  extending 
on  both  sides  of  the  river,  and  a  large  dwelling  house,  which  was 
now  vacant,  and  which  he  also  got  licensed  as  a  place  of  preaching. 


XV1U  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

"The  members  composing  this  congregation  were  scattered 
on  both  sides  of  this  river.  The  house  first  licensed,  was  on  the 
Virginia  side.  But  a  little  before  his  death,  by  his  exertions,  a 
new  house  of  worship  was  built  upon  his  land,  on  the  Maryland 
side,  at  a  place  now  called  Rehoboth,  which  has  continued  as  a 
place  of  worship  ever  since. 

k>  Among  other  reasons  which  led  to  this  change  of  location  in 
their  place  of  worship,  no  doubt,  was  a  design  of  getting  beyond 
the  reach  of  Episcopal  persecution  which  universally  prevailed  in 
Virginia,  and  the  security  of  religious  freedom  which,  by  charter, 
was  guaranteed  to  all  sects  in  Maryland. 

"  There  was,  at  the  same  time,  a  small  Presbyterian  congrega- 
tion on  the  Elizabeth  River,  near  where  Norfolk  now  stands, 
over  which  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mackey,  from  Ireland,  presided  as  their 
minister.  But  soon  after  Makemie's  death,  he  was  forced  to  fly 
from  intolerant  persecution,  and  we  hear  no  more  of  him  or  his 
congregation  afterwards. 

"After  the  two  small  congregations  of  Accomack  lost  the  la- 
bors and  protection  of  Makemie,  they  were  soon  extinguished, 
and  were  no  more  heard  of.  "When,  therefore,  Mr.  Davies  arriv- 
ed in  Virginia,  1748,  just  forty  years  after,  there  was  not  a  sin- 
gle organized  Presbyterian  church  anywhere  to  be  found  in  the 
old  settled  parts  of  Virginia. 

"  About  the  year  1730,  a  large  number  of  Scotch-Irish  emigrants 
from  Ireland  came  over  into  America.  This  current  of  immigra- 
tion became  stronger  and  stronger  for  many  years,  and  formed  a 
frontier  settlement  in  Pennsylvania,  Mrginia,  North  and  South 
Carolina.  All  these  had  received  a  Presbyterian  education  in 
Ireland. 

"  These  Presbyterian  Irish  settlers  formed  a  barrier  settlement 
between  the  older  settlers  from  England  and  the  Indians  of  the 
west. 

"  The  intolerant  Episcopalians  of  Virginia  were  willing  for  a 
while  to  admit  these  settlements  for  their  own  security  from  In- 
dian excursions  among  them,  and  leave  them  unmolested  in  their 
Presbyterian  modes  and  predilections.  Among  these  western 
settlements,  Presbyterian  congregations  were  formed  as  early,  and 
in  some  instances  prior  to  the  church  which  Davies  organized  in 
Hanover.     A   few  of  these  Scotch  and  Irish  settlements  were 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XIX 

supplied  with  ministers  from  the  'old  side  '  synod  of  Philadelphia 
and  their  presbytery  of  Donegal.  Congregations  were  formed 
in  Augusta  west  of  the  mountains,  and  two  members  of  the  Done- 
gal presbytery  were  settled  there  soon  after  the  great  schism  of 
1741,  and  another  congregation  was  organized  east  of  the  Blue 
ridge,  near  Rockfish  Gap,  and  another  member  of  Donegal  Pres- 
bytery located  there,  before  or  about  the  time  Mr.  Davies  settled 
in  Hanover.  Incipient  steps  were  taken  also  to  form  congrega- 
tions in  Frederick  county,  and  a  few  other  places,  about  the  same 
time,  by  the  '  new  light '  synod  of  New  York. 

"There  was  very  little  intercourse  between  these  western 
Scotch-Irish  and  the  lower  counties  of  Virginia  when  Mr.  Da- 
vies  first  came  to  that  colony ; — their  interests,  localities,  and 
social  intercourse  were  entirely  of  a  different  character.  But 
there  was  one  exception  to  the  last  general  remark.  As  the  old 
settlements  south  of  James  river  did  not  extend  further  west  of 
Richmond  than  about  60  or  70  miles,  a  portion  of  those  foreign 
emigrants  crossed  the  mountains  at  Rockfish.  Gap,  and  formed  a 
compact  settlement  there  ;  while  others  of  them  went  further 
south,  crossed  James  river,  and  formed  settlements  in  what  are 
now  called  Charlotte  and  Prince  Edward  counties.  It  was  to 
visit  these  settlements,  that  the  Rev.  William  Robinson  was  sent 
out  in  the  year  1743,  by  the  'new  light'  Presbytery  of  New 
Brunswick.  He  preached  to  the  settlements  in  Frederick,  crossed 
over  at  Rockfish  Gap,  and  preached  to  the  settlements  in  Char- 
lotte and  Prince  Edward  counties.  From  these  settlements  Mr. 
Robinson  continued  his  journey  south  into  the  western  and  Irish 
settlements  in  North  Carolina,  and  was  there  overtaken  by  the 
commissioners  which  had  been  despatched  from  Hanover  to  in- 
duce him  to  pay  them  a  visit  on  his  return.  This  he  promised 
to  do,  and  authorized  them  to  have  an  appointment  made  for 
him  on  a  given  Sabbath  some  weeks  afterwards. 

"  On  the  Saturday  before  the  Sabbath  which  Mr.  Robinson 
had  appointed  to  preach  in  Hanover,  he  had  to  ride  late  at  night 
to  reach  a  tavern,  within  about  8  or  10  miles  of  the  place.  The 
tavern-keeper  was  a  shrewd,  boisterous,  profane  man  ;  and  when 
uttering  some  horrid  oaths,  Mr.  Robinson  ventured  to  reprove 
him  for  his  profanity ;  and  although  it  was  done  in  a  mild  way, 
the  innkeeper  gave  him  a  sarcastic  look,  and  said.  '  Pray,  sir, 


XX  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

who  are  you,  to  take  such  authority  upon  yourself?'  'I  am  a 
minister  of  the  gospel,1  says  Mr.  Robinson.  'Then  you  belie 
your  looks  very  much,'  was  the  reply.  It  is  said  that  Mr.  Rob- 
inson had  had  the  small  pox  very  severely,  which  had  given 
him  a  very  rough  visage,  and  had  deprived  him  of  the  sight  of 
one  of  his  eyes.  It  was  with  reference  to  his  forbidding  appear- 
ance that  the  innkeeper  seemed  to  question  his  ministerial  char- 
acter. 'But,'  says  Mr.  Robinson,  'if  you  wish  certainly  to 
know  whether  I  am  a  minister  or  not,  if  you  will  accompany  me 
to  such  a  place,  you  may  be  convinced  by  hearing  me  preach.1 
1 1  will,'  says  the  inkeeper,  '  if  you  will  preach  from  a  text 
which  I  shall  give  you.'  '  Let  me  hear  it,'  says  Mr.  Robinson, 
'  and  if  there  is  nothing  unsuitable  in  it,  I  will.'  The  waggish, 
tavern-keeper,  with  the  wish  of  turning  him  into  ridicule,  as- 
signed him  the  text,  Psalm  cxxxix.  14.  '  For  I  am  fearfully  and 
wonderfully  made.'  Mr.  Robinson  promised,  if  he  would  ac- 
company him,  he  would  preach,  among  his  first  sermons,  one 
.from  that  text.  He  did  so,  it  is  said  ;  and  before  the  sermon 
ended,  this  wicked  man  was  made  to  see  that  he  was  the  mon- 
ster, and  that  he  was  indeed  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made  him- 
self; and  it  is  said  that  he  became  a  very  pious  and  useful  mem- 
ber of  the  church.  It  is  thought  that  President  Davies  has  a  ref- 
erence to  his  case,  among  others,  in  his  letter  to  the  Bishop  of 
London,  when  he  says,  '  I  have  been  the  joyful  witness  of  the 
happy  effeets  of  those  four  sermons  upon  sundry  thoughtless  im- 
penitents  and  sundry  abandoned  profligates,  who  have  ever  since 
given  good  evidence  of  a  thorough  conversion  from  sin  unto  holi- 
ness.' 

u  Seldom  did  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  produce  such  imme- 
diate and  happy  effects  as  the  four  sermons  which  he  was  allow- 
ed to  preach  at  Morris'  Reading  House.  Let  this  scene  be  de- 
scribed by  one  who  was  competent  to  do  justice  to  it.  '  On  the 
sixth  of  July,  Mr.  Robinson  preached  his  first  sermon,  and  con- 
tinued with  us  preaching  four  days  successively.  The  congrega- 
tion was  large  the  first  day,  and  vastly  increased  the  three  fol- 
lowing. It  is  hard  for  the  liveliest  imagination  to  form  an  idea 
of  the  condition  of  the  assembly  on  those  glorious  days  of  the 
Son  of  Man.  Such  of  us  as  had  been  hungering  for  the  word  be- 
fore, were  lost  in  an  agreeable  surprise  and  astonishment,  and 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XXI 

some  could  not  refrain  from  publicly  declaring  their  transports. 
We  were  overwhelmed  with  the  thoughts  of  the  unexpected 
goodness  of  God  in  allowing  us  to  hear  the  gospel  preached  as 
we  never  had  before,  and  in  a  manner  which  far  surpassed  our 
hopes.  Many  that  came  through  curiosity  were  pricked  to  the 
heart,  and  but  few  in  the  numerous  assemblies  on  these  four  days 
appeared  unaffected.  They  returned  alarmed  with  apprehen- 
sions of  their  dangerous  condition,  convinced  of  their  former  en- 
tire ignorance  of  religion,  and  anxiously  inquiring  what  they 
should  do  to  be  saved.  And  there  is  reason  to  believe,  there  was 
as  much  good,  done  by  these  four  sermons,  as  by  all  the  sermons 
preached  in  these  parts  since  or  before.'  Supplies  were  regularly 
sent  to  them  until  Mr  Davies  visited  them,  four  years  afterwards. 
It  can  readily  be  seen  that  Mr.  Robinson  visited  them  under  very 
favorable  circumstances.  They  had  the  advantage  of  giving 
timely  notice  of  his  coming; — they  had  never  heard  preaching 
that  was  worth  the  name  before ; — their  minds  had  for  some 
time  been  deeply  impressed  with  the  necessity  and  importance 
of  religion  ; — it  was  not  a  mere  transient  visit,  but  a  protracted 
meeting  of  four  days  and  nights'  continuance,  without  intermis- 
sion ; — and  it  is  probable  there  were  few  ministers  who  knew 
how  to  handle  the  word  of  God  more  dexterously,  and  to  give  to 
each  one  his  portion  in  due  season.  There  were  daily  additions  to 
this  little  flock  of  hopeful  converts.  So  mightily  grew  the  word 
of  God  and  prevailed  among  them. 

"  We  have  no  right  to  inquire  now  what  might  have  been  the 
consequences  if  Mr.  Robinson  had  been  permitted  to  have  pro- 
longed his  visit,  and  extended  his  labors  through  the  regions 
round  about,  wrhich  were  so  white  and  ripe  for  the  harvest.  But 
he  had  to  make  a  precipitate  retreat,  and  commence  his  flight 
from  the  sheriffs,  who  were  ordered  out  for  his  apprehension,  by 
persecuting  Episcopalians. 

"As  Mr.  Robinson  had  to  leave  them  so  hastily  and  unexpect- 
edly, his  many  warm  friends  had  no  opportunity  to  contribute 
anything  as  a  compensation,  or  even  to  defray  his  expenses.  A 
collection  was  raised  the  next  day,  and  sent  by  some  trusty 
friends  to  overtake  him,  and  put  it  in  his  possession.  They  did 
overtake  him,  but  he  peremptorily  refused  to  receive  a  penny  of 
it ;  saying,  he  knew  what  his  enemies  would  say  if  he  should  re- 


XXI 1  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

reive  any  part  of  it,  and  lie  was  determined  he  would  give  them 
no  occasion  to  speak  evil  of  either  himself  or  his  master's  cause, 
which  he  advocated.  He  at  last  said,  there  was  one  condition 
upon  which  he  would  receive  the  money.  He  knew  a  very  pious 
and  promising  young  man,  who  was  in  very  iudigent  circum- 
stances, and  had  been  for  some  years  prosecuting  his  studies  for 
the  ministry ;  he  would  with  their  leave  expend  it  upon  him, 
with  the  promise  that  if  he  should  enter  the  ministry,  he  should 
come  and  preach  to  them.  To  this  they  consented.  Samuel 
Davies,  then  studying  under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Blair, 
at  Fogg's  Manor,  Pennsylvania,  was  this  youth  ;  and  by  his  com- 
ing and  laboring  among  them,  the  pledge  was  redeemed. 

"  The  Episcopal  Church  of  England  had  been  established  by 
law  in  Virginia,  from  its  first  settlement; — the  ministers,  gener- 
ally speaking,  were  men  sent  from  Great  Britain  to  seek  their 
fortunes,  or  to  recover  broken  ones  in  America.  Although  nom- 
inally belonging  to  the  see  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  yet,  in  fact, 
they  were  subject  to  no  supervision,  amenable  for  misconduct  to 
no  human  authority  ;  and  it  is  not  wonderful  that  the  most  of 
them  were  addicted  to  horse-racing,  cock-fighting,  card-playing, 
and  drinking,  and,  in  fact,  were  the  mere  parasites  of  the  rich  and 
the  great.  This  being  generally  their  character,  with  here  and 
there  rare  exceptions,  religion  was  and  had  long  been  at  a  very 
low  ebb.  The  common  people  had  lost  all  confidence  in  their 
clergy,  and  were  generally  ready  to  hear  any  pious  minister 
gladly,  and  would  have  easily  been  led  off  to  another  church,  had 
they  not  been  restrained  by  high-handed  civil  authority.  There 
perhaps  could  no  other  people  be  found  where  the  great  mass  of 
the  community  were  more  open  to  conviction  and  accessible  by 
the  gospel,  whenever  and  wherever  it  was  faithfully  preached. 
Thus  impressible  did  Mr.  Davies  find  Virginia  when  he  settled  in 
Hanover.  He  was  the  solitary  Presbyterian  minister  of  the  "  new 
light  "  order  then  settled  in  the  colony.  The  three  u  old  side" 
ministers  who  were  settled,  one  in  Albemarle,  and  two  in  Augusta, 
were  mere  drones,  and  did  the  cause  more  injury  than  benefit, 
two  of  whom  fell  under  the  heavy  censures  of  the  church  before 
their  death." 


•  •• 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XX111 

"  The  labors  Mr.  Doxies  had  to  undergo,  and  the  difficulties  and 
opposition  with  which  he  had  to  contend,  when  he  first  under- 
took his  charge  in  Virginia. 

"It  should  be  recollected  that  when  Mr.  Davics  first  settled  in 
Virginia,  there  was  not  another  minister  in  the  same  ecclesiasti- 
cal connection  with  himself  in  the  whole  bounds  of  Virginia,  or 
within  less  than  between  two  and  three  hundred  miles  of  him. 

"It  is  true  there  were  three  other  Presbyterian  ministers  who 
settled  in  the  colony  about  the  same  time,  and  some  one  or  more 
of  them  might  have  preceded  him.  These  were  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Black,  in  Albemarle  county,  near  Rock-fish  Gap,  of  the  Blue 
Ridge  ;  the  Rev.  John  Craig,  and  Alexander  Miller,  in  what  was 
then  Augusta  county,  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  west  of  the  Blue 
Ridge.  But  these  were  old  side  Presbyterians,  and  belonged  to 
the  old  side  Presbytery  of  Donegal  and  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia, 
and  were  so  far  from  rendering  him  any  assistance,  that  they 
were  among  his  inveterate  enemies  and  bitterest  revilers,  as  au- 
thentic records  and  testimony  of  another  character  can  abun- 
dantly establish  if  necessary.  There  is  no  better  way  of  making 
known  the  task  he  had  undertaken,  and  the  labor  he  actually 
did  undergo,  than  to  take  it  from  Mr.  Davies'  own  pen,  in  his  let- 
ter addressed  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  dated  May  21st,  1752, 
which  was  four  years  after  his  settlement  in  Virginia. 

"  '  The  frontier  counties  of  this  colonv  '  he  says,  '  about  one 
hundred  miles  west  and  south-west  from  Hanover,  have  been 
lately  settled  by  people  that  chiefly  came  from  Ireland  originally, 
but  immediately  from  the  northern  colonies,  who  were  educated 
Presbyterians,  and  had  been,  during  their  residence  there,  under 
the  care  of  ministers  belonging  to  the  Synod  of  New  York,  of 
which  I  am  a  member.  Their  settling  in  Virginia  has  been 
many  ways  beneficial  to  it,  which  I  am  sure,  however,  most  of 
them  would  not  have  done,  had  they  expected  any  restraints  on 
the  inoffensive  exercise  of  their  religion,  according  to  their  con- 
sciences. x\fter  their  removal,  they  continued  to  petition  the  Sy- 
nod of  New  York,  and  particularly  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle, 
which  was  nearest  to  them,  for  ministers  to  be  sent  to  them.  But 
as  the  ministers  of  the  said  Synod  and  of  the  country  were  few, 
and  vastly  disproportioned  to  the  many  congregations  under  their 
care,  they  could  not  provide  these  vacancies  with  settled  pastors. 


XXIV  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

And  what  could  they  do  in  this  case  ?  The  only  expedient  in  their 
power  was  to  appoint  some  of  their  members  to  travel  alternate- 
ly into  these  destitute  congregations,  and  officiate  among  them 
as  long  as  would  comport  Avith  their  circumstances.'  '  The 
same  method  was  taken,  and  for  the  same  reason,  to  supply  the 
dissenters  in  and  about  Hanover,  before  my  settlement  among 
them,  and  this  raised  the  clamor  still  higher. 

"  l  There  are  now  in  the  frontier  counties  at  least  five  congre- 
gations of  Presbyterians,  who,  though  they  have  long  used  the 
most  vigorous  endeavors  to  obtain  settled  ministers  among  them, 
have  not  succeeded  yet,  by  reason  of  the  scarcity  of  ministers, 
and  the  number  of  vacancies  in  other  parts,  particularly  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  the  Jerseys  ;  and  we  have  no  way  to  answer  their 
importunate  petitions,  but  by  sending  a  minister  now  and  then 
to  them  to  officiate  transiently  among  them.  And  as  the  people 
under  my  charge  are  so  numerous,  and  so  dispersed,  that  I  can- 
not allow  them  at  each  meeting-house  such  a  share  of  my  minis- 
trations as  is  correspondent  to  their  necessity,  the  said  Synod  has 
twice  or  thrice  in  the  space  of  three  years,  sent  a  minister  to 
assist  me  for  a  few  Sabbaths.  These  are  the  only  itinerations 
that  we  have  been  charged  with,  in  this  colony ;  and  whether  we 
should  not  rather  run  the  risk  of  this  causeless  charge,  than  suffer 
these  vacancies,  who  eagerly  look  to  us  for  the  bread  of  life,  to 
perish  through  a  famine  of  the  word  of  the  Lord,  who  can  enter- 
tain a  doubt  ? 

"  '  But  as  I  am  particularly  accused  of  intrusive  schismatical 
itinerations,  I  am  more  particularly  concerned  to  vindicate  my- 
self. It  will  be  necessary  therefore  to  inform  your  lordship,  [ad- 
dressed to  the  Bishop  of  London,]  of  the  circumstances  of  the  dis- 
senters in  and  about  Hanover,  who  are  under  my  ministerial  care. 

"  The  dissenters  here  and  hereabout  are  only  sufficiently  nu- 
merous to  form  two  distinct  organized  congregations,  or  particu- 
lar churches  ;  and  did  they  live  contiguous,  two  meeting-houses 
would  be  sufficient  for  them,  and  neither  they  nor  myself  wTould 
desire  more.  But  they  are  so  dispersed,  that  they  cannot  con- 
vene for  public  worship,  unless  they  have  a  considerable  number 
of  places  licensed  ; — and  yet  they  are  so  few,  that  they  cannot 
form  a  particular  organized  church  at  each  place.  There  are 
meeting-houses  licensed  in  five  different  counties  in  this  part  of 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XXV 

the  state,  but  the  extremes  of  my  charge  lie  80  or  90  miles 
apart;  and  the  dissenters  under  my  care  are  scattered  through 
six  or  seven  different  counties.  The  greatest  number  of  them,  I 
suppose  about  100  families  at  least,  is  in  Hanover,  where  there 
are  three  meeting-houses  licensed.  About  20  or  30  families  are 
in  Henrico  ;  about  10  or  12  in  Caroline  ;  about  15  or  20  in  Gooch- 
land ;  and  about  the  same  number  in  Louisa  ;  in  each  of  the  four 
last-mentioned  counties  there  is  at  this  time  but  one  meeting- 
house licensed.  Besides  these,  there  are  about  15  or  20  families 
in  Cumberland  county,  [between  80  or  90  miles  from  Mr.  Davies 
residence  in  Hanover,]  where  there  is  no  place  of  worship  licensed 
for  our  use,  and  about  the  same  number  in  and  about  New  Kent, 
where  a  license  was  granted  by  the  court  of  that  county,  but 
afterwards  recalled  by  the  General  Court.  [The  doctrine  ad- 
vanced by  the  General  Court  was,  that  the  act  of  toleration,  if  it 
extended  at  all  to  the  colonies,  did  not  admit  of  licensing  any 
place  of  worship  for  a  dissenting  minister,  except  one  in  the 
countv  where  he  resided,  and  where  the  dissentinsr  member 
regularly  and  uniformly  attended.  This  was  done  ro  prevent 
itinerant  preachers,  as  they  were  called,  from  going  from  county 
to  county,  and  making  proselytes  from  the  established  church  of 
England.] 

M  '  The  counties,'  says  Mr.  Davies  in  continuance,  ;  are  large, 
generally  40  or  50  miles  in  length,  and  about  20  or  30  in  breadth ; 
so  that,  though  members  may  live  in  one  county,  it  would  be 
impossible  for  them  all  to  convene  at  one  place,  and  much  more 
so  when  they  are  dispersed  through  so  many  counties.  Though 
there  are  now  seven  places  of  worship  licensed,  yet  the  nearest 
to  each  other  are  12  or  15  miles  apart;  and  many  have  to  travel 
from  10, 15,  or  20  miles  to  the  nearest,  and  from  40  to  60  miles 
to  the  other  places  licensed  ;  nay,  some  of  them  have  from  30  to 
40  miles  to  the  nearest  place  of  worship.  And  such  is  the  scarc- 
ity of  ministers  in  the  Synod  of  New  York,  and  so  great  the  num- 
ber of  congregations  under  their  care,  that  though  a  part  of  my 
congregation  with  my  hearty  concurrence,  used  repeated  endeav- 
ors to  obtain  another  minister  to  relieve  me  of  a  charge  of  them, 
they  have  not  been  able  to  succeed  as  yet.  So  that  all  the  dis- 
senters here  depend  entirely  upon  me  to  officiate  among  them, 
as  there  is  no  other  minister  of  their  own  denomination  within 


XXVI  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

200  miles  or  more,  except  where  .one  of  my  brethren  from  the 
north  is  appointed  to  pay  them  a  transient  visit  for  two  or  three 
Sabbaths  once  in  a  year  or  two  ;  and  as  was  observed,  they  can- 
not attend  on  my  ministry  at  more  than  one  or  two  places,  on 
account  of  the  distance,  nor  constitute  a  complete  particular 
church  at  each  place  of  meeting  on  account  of  the  smallness  of 
their  numbers.' 

"  These  extracts  from  Mr.  Davies1  letter  to  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don, may  give  us  a  glance  of  the  work  he  had  to  perform,  and  of 
the  opposition  against  which  lie  had  to  contend.  It  was  his 
practice  to  preach  more  frequently  at  one  of  the  meeting-houses 
in  Hanover  than  at  any  of  the  rest  of  the  places.  This  meeting- 
house was  built  near  Mr.  Morris's  reading-house,  where  Presby- 
terianisin  originated,  and  where  they  were  much  more  numerous 
than  anywhere  else,  and  near  to  which  Mr.  Davies  had  fixed  his 
residence  witli  his  family.  But  it  was  his  regular  custom  to 
preach  one  Sabbath  at  least  in  three  or  four  months,  at  each  of 
the  other  places  licensed  ;  for  as  yet  he  did  not  venture  to  preach 
in  any  other  place  that  was  not  licensed  by  law.  Beside  preach- 
ing on  the  Sabbath,  he  ventured  to  preach  frequently  at  his  dif- 
ferent chapels  of  ease,  on  weak  days,  which  proved  highly  bene- 
ficial, though  it  was  the  ground  of  heavy  charges  and  strenuous 
opposition  from  Episcopal  clergymen.  The  reason  for  which 
was,  that  many  Episcopalians,  who  dare  not  absent  themselves 
from  their  own  parish  church  to  hear  Mr.  Davies  on  the  Sabbath, 
felt  no  scruple  to  hear  him  on  a  week  day — some  out  of  curios- 
ity to  hear  a  man  whose  fame  was  now  much  noised  abroad 
through  the  country,  and  many  were  desirous  of  hearing  him 
from  a  much  better  motive,  it  is  believed.  But  it  is  generally  be- 
lieved that  more  persons  were  brought  under  serious  impressions 
by  his  week  day  sermons  than  those  of  the  Sabbath  ;  and  it  was 
chiefly  by  these  meetings  that  so  many  were  induced  to  forsake 
the  worship  of  the  established  church,  which  they  had  found  to 
be  so  unprofitable  in  times  past,  and  resort  to  ordinances  which 
they  found  more  beneficial ;  and  thus  they  not  only  became  true 
Christians,  but  rapidly  increased  the  number  of  Presbyterians. 
This  excited  the  ire,  and  quickened  the  opposition  of  the  Episco- 
palians. 

"While  Mr.  Davies  was  thus  left  to  labor  without  any  co-ope- 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XXV11 

ration  from  his  brethren,  except  on  occasional  visits  sent  by  the 
Synod  of  New  York  to  aid  him  two  or  three  Sabbaths,  with  such 
intervals  as  made  them  few  and  far  between,  he  was  continually 
extending  his  labors,  and  occupying  new  territory. 

"The  more  he  became  known,  the  greater  was  the  crowd  that 
followed  after  him ;  until  the  pressing  invitations  which  he  re- 
ceived from  various  quarters,  became  almost  overwhelming  to 
his  sensitive  mind. 

"  When  he  first  came  to  Virginia,  a  youthful  stranger,  the 
clergy  of  the  establishment  affected  to  treat  him  with  sovereign 
contempt ;  several  scurrilous  lampoons  were  written  against  him, 
and  the  sarcastic  songs  which  were  put  into  the  mouths  of  drunk- 
ards to  turn  him  into  ridicule,  are  remembered  by  some  old 
people  to  the  present  day.  It  was  soon  seen  that  such  light 
weapons  as  these  rather  brought  him  into  notice  than  did  him 
any  injury. 

"  He  was  now  frequently  called  before  the  General  Court,  and 
the  Governor  and  Council,  who  seriouslv  threatened  to  recall  the 
licenses  which  he  had  heretofore  obtained,  and  to  deny  him  any 
of  the  privileges  secured  to  dissenters  by  the  act  of  toleration ; 
and  not  only  threatened  to  banish  him  the  colony,  but  did  actu- 
ally cause  some  that  were  sent  to  his  aid,  to  depart  from  the  ter- 
ritory. 

"He  had  made  himself  so  great  a  master  of  the  laws  of  Eng- 
land, and  of  his  civil  and  religious  rights  and  privileges,  that  he 
was  never  in  the  least  daunted  in  answering  all  their  indictments, 
nor  in  facing  their  most  able  councillors.  He  always  chose  to 
plead  his  own  cause,  and  acquitted  himself  in  such  a  manner  as 
made  him  many  friends  and  admirers,  and  even  his  enemies  to 
say,    '  What  a  lawyer  was  spoiled  ichen  Davies  took  the  pulpit  /' 

"  The  home  of  Mr.  Davies  was  about  twelve  miles  from  Rich- 
mond ;  but  his  occasional  labors,  as  is  seen  by  the  above  account, 
were  extended  through  a  considerable  part  of  the  colony  ;  and  he 
acquired,  probably,  a  greater  influence  than  any  other  preacher 
in  Virginia  ever  possessed.  The  limits  of  the  Presbytery  of  Han- 
over originally  comprehended  the  whole  of  Virginia,  and  a  con- 
siderable part,  if  not  the  whole  of  North  Carolina.  Through 
this-  extensive  region  there  were  scattered  numerous  settlements 
of  Protestants.     Of  this  whole  interest  which  '  dissented  '  from 


XXV111  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

the  then  established  church  of  Virginia,  Mr.  Davies  was  the  ani- 
mating soul.  His  popularity  in  Virginia  was  almost  unbounded ; 
so  that  he  was  invited  and  urged  to  preach  in  every  part  of  the 
colony.  The  Presbytery  to  which  he  belonged,  willing  to  gratify 
the  people  as  far  as  in  their  power,  directed  him  to  supply  vacan- 
cies, with  a  frequency  which  came  at  last  to  be  offensive  to  the 
people  of  his  own  immediate  charge.  They  warmly  remonstrat- 
ed to  the  Presbytery  against  being  deprived  so  much  of  their  pas- 
tor's time  and  labors.  To  Mr.  Davies,  however,  no  blame  was 
attached  by  either  party.  He  appeared  willing  to  spend  and  be 
spent  in  any  service  to  which  duty  called  him. 

"The  church  in  which  he  preached  in  Hanover,  and  which 
was  erected  for  him  in  1757,  is  still  standing.  It  is  about  ten 
miles  from  the  city  of  Richmond,  and  is  a  remarkably  plain  build- 
ing, of  wood,  without  a  steeple,  and  capable  of  accommodating 
about  five  hundred  persons.  In  pleasant  weather,  the  number 
of  persons  who  came  to  hear  him  was  so  great,  that  the  church 
would  not  contain  them,  and  worship  was  held  in  a  neighboring 
grove." 

It  was  during  Mr.  Davies'  residence  in  Virginia,  that,  in  com- 
pany with  the  Rev.  Gilbert  Tennant,  he  was  sent  to  London  to 
solicit  donations  for  the  college  of  New  Jersey.  Of  this  visit,  Dr. 
Hill  has  furnished  the  following  account. 

"Mr.  Davies'  popularity  as  an  eloquent  pulpit  orator  —  his  able 
defences  before  the  Governor  and  General  court  of  Virginia, — his 
military  sermons,  and  his  patriotic  addresses  upon  different  im- 
portant occasions,  together  with  his  very  able  correspondence 
with  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  other  distinguished  men  in  Eng- 
land, had  raised  his  reputation  to  such  a  height,  that  in  the  year 
1753,  when  the  '  new  side '  Synod,  of  New  York,  were  looking 
out  for  a  companion  and  coadjutor  to  the  Rev.  Gilbert  Tennant, 
to  send  to  Great  Britain,  they  could  find  no  one  in  all  their  num- 
ber who  was  thought  to  possess  qualifications  for  that  undertak- 
ing to  compare  with  those  possessed  by  Mr.  Davies,  who  was 
then  but  a  mere  youth,  still  under  thirty  years  of  age. 

"  Mr.  Davies'  modesty  induced  him  strongly  to  remonstrate 
against  devolving  such  a  trust  upon  him ; — and  his  people  felt 
still  stronger  objections  to  this  appointment.  .  They  knew  how 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XXIX 

important  his  services  were  at  that  critical  period  in  their  affairs, 
and  that  no  one  else  could  supply  his  place  with  equal  advan- 
tage. Besides  this,  they  had  another  ohjection.  They  knew  his 
excellencies  better  than  any  other  people,  for  he  came  to  them 
when  a  youth,  and  it  was  among  them  that  his  powers  had 
ripened  ;  and  they  were  afraid  if  he  became  extensively  known, 
he  would  he  sought  after  by  other  places,  which  could  afford 
him  a  much  easier  and  more  comfortable  settlement  than  they 
could,  and  that  they  would  thereby  endanger  the  loss  of  him 
altogether. 

"  Subsequent  events,  which  soon  after  followed,  showed  how 
well-founded  their  fears  and  apprehensions  were.  Although  the 
Synod  took  care  to  have  Mr.  Davies'  people  supplied  during  the 
year  of  his  absence,  yet  no  one  could,  in  their  estimation,  render 
services  equivalent  to  his.  It  is  generally  thought  that  the  pro- 
gress of  Presbyterianism  was  seriously  affected  by  Mr.  Davies' 
absence  from  Virginia,  and  that  its  prospects  were  hardly  ever  as 
promising  afterwards  as  before. 

"  What  was  the  precise  amount  of  funds  raised  by  this  em- 
bassy to  Great  Britain  ;  the  mode  of  their  operations ;  whether 
they  went  together,  or  separated,  and  took  different  routes,  is  not 
known.  They  visited  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland  ;  and  there 
is  no  doubt  they  raised  a  considerable  amount,  and  enlisted  many 
friends  and  patrons  for  Princeton  Seminar}' — as  that  institution 
rose  rapidly  into  notice  and  usefulness  from  that  time.  When 
Mr.  Davies  was  in  London,  his  fame  had  preceded  him,  so  that 
his  preaching  was  much  resorted  to  by  dissenters  and  others; 
and  an  occurrence  is  said  to  have  taken  place  which  was  much 
spoken  of  among  his  friends,  and  with  some  little  exultation,  after 
his  return. 

"  The  circumstance  alluded  to  is  this — that  his  fame  as  a  pul- 
pit orator  was  so  great  in  London,  that  some  noblemen  who  had 
heard  him,  mentioned  in  the  presence  of  King  George  II.,  that 
there  was  a  very  distinguished  dissenting  preacher  in  London 
from  the  colony  of  Virginia,  who  was  attracting  great  notice,  and 
drawing  after  him  very  crowded  audiences;  upon  which  the 
King  expressed  a  strong  desire  to  hear  him,  and  his  chaplain  in- 
vited him  to  preach  in  his  chapel.  Mr.  Davies  is  said  to  have 
complied,  and  preached  before  a  splendid  audience,  composed  of 


XXX  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

the  royal  family,  and  many  of  the  nobility  of  the  realm.  It  is 
further  said,  that  while  Mr.  D.  was  preaching,  the  King  was 
seen  speaking  at  different  times  to  those  around  him,  who  were 
seen  also  to  smile.  Mr.  Davies  observed  it,  and  was  shocked  at 
what  he  thought  was  irreverence  in  the  house  of  God,  that  was 
utterly  inexcusable  in  one  whose  example  might  have  such  in- 
fluence. After  pausing  and  looking  sternly  in  that  direction  sev- 
eral times,  the  preacher  proceeded  in  his  discourse,  when  the 
same  offensive  behavior  was  still  observed.  The  American 
dissenter  is  said  then  to  have  exclaimed,  '  When  the  lion  roars, 
the  beasts  of  the  forest  all  tremble;  and  lehen  King  Jesus  speaks, 
the  princes  of  the  earth  should  keep  silence.''  The  King  is  said  to 
have  given  a  significant,  but  courteous  bow  to  the  preacher,  and 
sat  very  composedly  and  reverently  during  the  rest  of  the  ser- 
vice. If  this  be  a  correct  statement  of  the  fact  that  took  place,  it 
speaks  louder  than  anything  that  has  yet  been  said  in  praise  of 
Mr.  Davies1  promptness,  intrepidity,  and  solemn  self-possesssion 
while  engaged  in  delivering  God's  messages  to  his  perishing  fel- 
low-men. Whatever  authoritv  Mr.  Davies'  friends  had  for  nar- 
rating  this  story  is  not  now  known,  but  it  was  universally  be- 
lieved among  them  to  have  occurred. 

"The  explanation  given  of  this  strange  affair  is  this.  The 
King  is  said  to  have  been  so  enraptured  with  Mr.  Davies'  solemn 
and  impressive  manner  and  eloquence,  that  he  was  constrained 
repeatedly  to  express  his  astonishment  and  applause  to  those 
around  him,  and  felt  anything  else  but  irreverence  upon  the  oc- 
casion. He 'was  so  delighted  with  him,  that  he  sent  him  an  in- 
vitation to  call  upon  him  at  a  given  time,  which  interview  un- 
questionably did  take  place,  and  was  repeated  more  than  once, 
after  which,  and  the  explanations  which  were  given,  Mr.  Davies 
was  delighted  with  his  Majesty,  and  not  only  received  a  hand- 
some donation  from  him  for  the  college  whose  cause  he  was  ad- 
vocating, but  was  led  to  form  a  most  exalted  opinion  of  George 
II.  ever  afterwards,  as  may  be  learned  from  a  funeral  sermon  he 
preached  upon  his  death  and  character." 

The  following  account  by  Dr.  Hill,  will  furnish  an  interesting 
and  useful   account   of  "  the  style  and   manner  of  Mr.  Davies 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XXXI 

preaching,  the  effects  'produced ;  and  the  influence  which  he  ac- 
quired. 

"  Mr  Davies  possessed  naturally  every  qualification,  both  of 
body  and  mind,  to  make  him  an  accomplished  orator,  and  fit 
him  for  the  pulpit.  His  frame  was  tall,  well-proportioned,  erect, 
and  comely  ; — his  port  and  carriage  were  easy,  graceful,  manly, 
and  dignified  ; — his  voice  clear,  loud  distinct,  melodious,  and  well- 
modulated; — and  his  natural  genius  was  strong  and  masculine  ; 
his  understanding  clear ;  his  memory  retentive ;  his  invention 
quick  ;  his  imagination  sprightly  and  florid,  his  thoughts  sub- 
lime ;  and  his  language  elegant,  strong  and  expressive.  His 
temper  or  disposition  was  naturally  modest,  diffident,  and  retir- 
ing ;  but  when  roused  by  difficulties,  or  strongly  urged  by  a  sense 
of  duty,  he  was,  from  a  consciousness  of  his  mental  resources, 
enterprising  bold,  and  fearless.  He  was  remarkably  neat  and 
tasteful  in  his  dress,  and  dignified  and  polite  in  his  manners.  A 
distinguished  character  of  the  day,  in  seeing  him  walk  through  a 
court-yard  once,  saiu,  '  he  looked  like  the  ambassador  of  some 
great  king.'' 

"  Mr.  Davies  wrote  and  prepared  his  sermons  with  great  care  : 
this  he  was  enabled  to  do,  notwithstanding  the  great  and  multi- 
plied pastoral  duties  which  he  had  to  perforin,  from  the  fact  that 
he  had  so  many  places  of  preaching,  and  that  they  were  so  wide 
apart,  that  one  sermon  could  be  preached  throughout  his  exten- 
sive range,  without  much  danger  of  any  of  his  hearers  having 
heard  the  same  discourse  twice.  His  common  practice  was  to 
take  his  manuscripts  with  him  into  the  pulpit,  and  make  more 
or  less  use  of  them  in  delivering  his  discourses.  But  his  memory 
was  such,  and  the  frequent  use  he  was  permitted  to  make  of  the 
same  sermon  rendered  it  so  familiar  that  he  was  never  tram- 
meled in  his  delivery.  Though  this  was  his  common  practice 
yet  he  would  sometimes  extemporize  to  very  happy  effect.  One 
of  his  confidential  elders  once  said  to  him — '  Mr.  Davies,  how  is 
it,  that  you,  who  are  so  well  informed  upon  all  theological  sub- 
jects, and  can  express  yourself  with  so  much  ease  and  readiness, 
upon  any  subject,  and  in  any  company,  and  have  language  so  at 
your  command,  should  think  it  necessary  to  prepare  and  write 
your  sermons  with  so  much  care,  and  take  your  notes  into  the 
pulpit,  and  make  such  constant  use  of  them?     Why  do  you  not, 


XXX11  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

like  many  other  preachers,  oftener  preach  extempore  ?'  Mr.  Da- 
vies'  reply  was  this  : — '  I  always  thought  it  to  be  a  most  awful 
thing  to  go  into  the  pulpit  and  there  ?peak  nonsense  in  the  name 
of  God.  Besides,  when  I  have  an  opportunity  of  preparing,  and 
neglect  to  do  so,  I  am  afraid  to  look  up  to  God  for  assistance,  for 
that  would  be  to  ask  him  to  countenance  my  negligence.  But 
when  I  am  evidently  called  upon  to  preach,  and  have  had  no  op- 
portunity to  make  suitable  preparation,  if  I  see  it  clearly  to  be 
my  duty,  I  am  not  afraid  to  try  to  preach  extempore,  and  I  can 
with  confidence  look  up  to  God  for  assistance.' 

"  No  one  can  be  at  a  loss  to  know  what  was  the  style  of  Mr. 
Davies'  preaching,  who  has  ever  read  his  printed  sermons,  for 
they  are  verbatim,  as  he  delivered  them,  and  no  doubt  were  print- 
ed from  the  very  manuscripts  which  he  used  in  the  pulpit.  It 
should  not  be  thought  wonderful  if  such  sermons,  accompanied 
with  his  dignified  appearance — appropriate  gestures — clear,  well 
modulated  and  melodious  voice,  should  have  interested  the  peo- 
ple, and  insured  him  overwhelming  congregations.  His  preach- 
ing was  intelligible  and  attractive  to  people  of  every  class  and 
condition — the  high  and  the  low,  the  rich  and  the  poor.  He  had 
an  unusual  popularity  among  the  poor  illiterate  slaves ;  took 
great  pains  with  them,  and  spent  much  time  in  having  them 
taught  to  read,  and  furnishing  them  with  Bibles  and  hymn  books, 
and  other  suitable  books.  "When  he  left  Virginia,  it  is  probable 
his  colored  Communicants  were  more  numerous  than  the  white. 
The  writer  of  this  has  known  manv  of  his  black  members,  and 
they  have  always  been  esteemed  by  their  masters  as  servants  of 
a  superior  order  ;  which  secured  to  them  not  only  the  friendship 
and  confidence  of  their  owners,  but  treatment  more  like  Christain 
brethren  than  slaves. 

11  Mr.  Davies,  in  his  letters  to  Mr.  Bellamy  and  others,  speaks 
very  discouragingly  of  his  success,  especially  as  contrasted  with 
the  effects  produced  before  his  arrival,  by  the  four  days'  preach- 
ing of  Mr.  Robinson;  but  he  evidently  does  not  do  himself  jus- 
tice by  such  remarks  and  comparisons.  Mr.  Robinson's  labors 
were  all  employed  at  one  place,  in  Hanover,  among  the  same 
people,  and  without  any  intermission.  It  is  natural,  therefore, 
without  overlooking  the  supernatural  aids  of  divine  grace,  to  ex- 
pect that  instrumentalities,  thus  employed,  should  produce  more 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XXXlll 

visible  effects  than  if  the  same  means  had  been  spread  over  as 
many  different  counties,  among  different  sets  of  hearers,  and  with 
considerable  intervals  of  time  between  the  sermons.  The  fruits 
of  Mr.  Robinson's  labors  were  visible  at  once,  but  upon  a  very 
limited  scale,  compared  with  the  extensive  field  over  which  Mr. 
Davies  had  not  only  to  scatter  the  seed,  but  to  prepare  the  soil 
by  subduing  the  thorns  and  noxious  weeds.  No  doubt  much  of 
Mr.  Davies1  work  was  lost,  because  he  had  always  to  hurry  away 
to  some  other  part  of  his  extensive  bounds.  Those  that  came 
after  Mr.  Davies,  were  better  able  to  judge  of  his  usefulness  than 
he  was  himself  at  the  time.  There  was  no  remarkable  revival 
of  religion  during  his  ministry,  bnt  there  was  a  gradual  increase, 
and  a  growing  and  deepening  impression  of  the  necessity  and  im- 
portance of  religion.  If  he  could  have  devoted  his  labors,  and 
concentrated  his  energies,  upon  a  smaller  field,  no  doubt  there 
would  have  been  more  visible  fruits  seen  ;  but  whether  he  did 
not  perform  a  greater  and  better  work,  by  preparing  an  extensive 
field  for  many  laborers  to  come  after  and  gather  the  fruits,  is  a 
question  of  no  easy  solution.  Mr.  Davies  was  but  the  pioneer 
for  Presbyterianism  and  vital  piety  in  Virginia  ;  and  his  mysteri- 
ous and  speedy  removal  to  another  sphere,  just  as  his  prospects 
in  Virginia  began  to  brighten,  has  to  many  appeared  of  very 
questionable  propriety." 

Mr.  Davies  continued  in  the  field  of  labor  in  Virginia,  until  he 
was  elected  to  the  Presidency  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  in 
the  year  1759.  He  was  chosen  to  succeed  President  Edwards. 
President  Burr  died  in  September,  1757 ;  President  Edwards  was 
elected  soon  after,  but  was  not  inducted  into  office  until  Februa- 
ry, 1758,  and  died  in  the  March  following.  Mr.  Davies  was  in- 
augurated as  President  in  July,  1759,  and  continued  in  the  office 
until  his  death,  on  the  4th  of  February,  1761.  He  "  preached  his 
farewell  sermon  to  his  people,  June  1st,  1769.  The  effect  pro- 
duced upon  the  minds  of  his  people  can  neither  be  conceived  nor 
expressed.  Despondency  and  gloom  hung  over  the-  whole  as- 
sembly, and  the  distress  and  surprise  with  many  were  too  great 
to  admit  of  the  relief  which  a  flood  of  tears  might  afford.  The 
consternation  was  nearly  as  great  with  the  Presbytery,  for  a  pa- 
ralyzing discouragement  seemed  to  have  possessed  all  in  Vir- 


XXXIV  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

ginia  who  were  concerned  in  this  matter  ;  after  which  everything 
of  a  religious  nature  seemed  to  decline.  Ichabod  seemed  to  be 
written,  not  only  on  his  own  congregation,  but  on  the  entire 
Presbytery  ;  from  which  it  has  hardly  ever  recovered  since.  His 
congregation  in  Hanover  began  at  once  to  dwindle  away  by 
death,  but  more  frequently  by  removals  to  the  upper  counties, 
where  the  soil  and  climate  were  more  inviting.  Perhaps  God 
saw  it  was  necessary ;  for  if  ever  a  people  were  guilty  of  man 
worship,  they  were ;  and  sorely  did  they  pay  for  it." — Dk.  Hill. 

It  is  as  a  preacher,  particularly,  that  it  is  proper  to  contem- 
plate him  in  an  "  Introduction  "  to  his  Sermons  :  and  all  that  is 
needful,  therefore,  to  say  of  his  character  as  the  President  of  a 
College,  is,  that  he  equalled  the  most  sanguine  expectations  of 
his  friends ;  and  that,  at  his  death,  he  left  the  College  in  as  high 
a  state  of  literary  merit  as  it  had  ever  been  in  since  its  first  in- 
stitution. A  more  full  account  of  his  efforts  to  benefit  the  Col- 
lege, and  of  his  success,  may  be  found  in  the  Appendix  to  Dr. 
Green's  "  Discourses,  delivered  in  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  ad- 
dressed chiefly  to  candidates  for  the  first  degree  in  the  arts." 
Pp.  350-355.  He  died  from  an  inflammatory  fever,  after  an  ill- 
ness of  two  days,  which  was  supposed  to  have  been  caused 
mainly  by  his  having  been  unskilfully  bled.  His  death  was 
probably  hastened,  as  he  had  been  predisposed  to  disease,  by  his 
unremitting  application  to  study,  and  to  the  duties  of  his  office. 
His  previous  situation  had  afforded  little  leisure,  and  compara- 
tively few  means,  for  the  cultivation  of  general  science.  To 
qualify  himself  for  his  new  station,  therefore,  his  application  to 
study  became  intense  and  unremitted.  This  fact,  and  the  fact 
that  during  his  residence  in  Princeton,  he  had  almost  wholly 
neglected  the  exercise  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed  in  Vir- 
ginia, contributed  to  render  the  disease  incurable.  During  his 
brief  illness,  the  violence  of  the  disease  was  such  as  almost 
wholly  to  deprive  him  of  the  exercise  of  reason. 

"  His  faltering  tongue  was,  however,  continually  uttering  some 
expedient  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and 
the  good  of  mankind." 

His  remains  lie  in  the  churchyard  in  Princeton,  by  the  side  of 
Presidents  Burr,  Edwards,  Finley,  and  Witherspoon.  The  follow- 
ing inscription  is  recorded  on  the  stone  which  marks  his  grave: — 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XXXV 

Sub  hoc  marmore  sepulchral! 

Mortales  Exuviae 

Reverend!  perquam  viri, 

SAMUELIS  DAVIES,  A.M. 

Collegii  Xov-Csesariensis  Praasidis, 

Futurum  Domini  Adventum  praestolantur. 

Xe  te,  viator,  ut  pauca  de  tanto 

Tamque  dilecto  vivo  resciscas, 

Paulisper  morari  pigeat. 

Natus  est  in  Comitatu  de  Newcastle,  juxta  Delaware, 

iii.  Novembris,  Anno  Salutis  reparatae, 

MDCCXXIV.  S.Y. 

Sacris  ibidem  initiatus,  xix.  Febrnarii, 

MDCOXLVn. 

Tutelam  pastoralem  Ecclesiaa 

In  Comitatu  de  Hanover,  Virginiensium,  suscepit. 

Ibi  per  xi.  plus  minus  Annos, 

Ministri  evangeiici  laboribus 

Indefesse,  et  favente  Xumine,  auspicato  perfunctus. 

Ad  munus  Praesidiale  Collegii  Xov-CsesarieDsis  gerendum 

Vocatus  est,  et  inauguratus,  xxvi.  Jnlii, 

MDCCLIX.  8.K. 

Sed,  proh  Reruni  inane  !  intra  Biennium,  Febre  correptus, 

Candidam  animam  ccelo  reddidit,  iv.  Februarii,  MDCCLXI 

Heu  quam  exiguum  Yitae  Curriculum ! 

Corpore  fuit  eximio ;  Gestu  liberali,  placido,  augusto. 

In  genii  Nitore, 

Morum  Integritate,  Munificentia,  Facilitate, 

Inter  paucos  illustris. 

Rei  literariae  peritus  ;  Theologus  promptus,  perspicax. 

In  Rostris,  per  Eloquium  blandum,  mellitum, 

Vehemens  simul,  et  perstringens,  nulli  secundus. 

Scriptor  ornatus,  sublimis,  disertus. 

Praesertim  vero  Pietate, 

Ardente  in  Deum  Zelo  et  Religione  spectandus. 

In  tanti  viri,  majora  meriti, 

Memoriam  duraturam, 

Amici  hoc  qualecunque  monumentum, 

Honoris  ergo,  et  Gratitudinis,  posuere 

Abi,  viator,  ei  eemulare. 


XXXVI  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

■ 

The  characteristics  of  President  Davies  as  a  preacher,  were 
such  as  the  following  : 

1.  He  was  eminent  for  zeal  and  ardor.  This  was  evinced  in 
all  his  ministry,  and  is  apparent  in  his  printed  sermons.  lie 
gave  his  whole  soul  to  the  work,  and  did  nothing  languidly  or 
sluggishly.  His  ardor  and  zeal  prompted  him  to  untiring  dili- 
gence ;  to  a  readiness  to  preach  whenever  he  had  an  opportuni- 
ty ;  and  to  the  burning  thoughts  and  expressions  which  charac- 
terize his  sermons.  The  same  ardor  led  him  to  make  a  diligent 
use  of  all  the  means  at  his  command  for  qualifying  himself  for 
wider  usefulness,  and  making  the  most  of  the  eminent  natural 
endowments  with  which  he  had  been  favored.  As  a  specimen 
of  his  ardor  in  preaching,  the  following  statement  of  his  own 
feelings  will  furnish  an  interesting  illustration : 

"  I  desire  seriously  to  devote  to  God  and  my  dear  country,  all 
the  labors  of  my  head,  my  heart,  my  hand,  and  pen  ;  and  if  he 
pleases  to  bless  any  of  them,  I  hope  I  shall  be  thankful,  and 
wonder  at  his  condescending  grace.  Oh  !  my  dear  brother,  could 
we  spend  and  be  spent  all  our  lives,  in  painful,  disinterested,  in- 
defatigable service  for  God  and  the  world,  how  serene  and  bright 
would  it  render  the  swift  approaching  eve  of  life  !  I  am  labor- 
ing to  do  a  little  to  save  my  country,  and,  which  is  of  much 
more  consequence,  to  save  souls  from  death — from  that  tremen- 
dous kind  of  death,  which  a  soul  can  die.  I  have  had  but  little 
success  of  late,  but  blessed  be  God,  it  surpasses  my  expectation, 
and  much  more  my  desert.  Some  of  my  brethren  labor  to  better 
purpose.     The  pleasure  of  the  Lord  prospers  in  their  hands." 

Another  epistle  tells  me,  u  As  for  myself,  I  am  just  striving 
not  to  live  in  vain.  I  entered  the  ministry  with  such  a  sense  of 
my  unfitness  for  it,  that  I  had  no  sanguine  expectations  of  suc- 
cess. And  a  condescending  God  (O,  how  condescending!)  has 
made  me  much  more  serviceable  than  I  could  hope.  But,  alas ! 
my  brother,  I  have  but  little,  very  little  true  religion.  My  ad- 
vancements in  holiness  are  extremely  small :  I  feel  what  I  con- 
fess, and  am  sure  it  is  true,  and  not  the  rant  of  excessive  or  affect- 
ed humility.  It  is  an  easy  thing  to  make  a  noise  in  the  world,  to 
flourish  and  harangue,  to  dazzle  the  crowd  and  set  them  all 
agape  ;  but  deeply  to  imbibe  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  to  maintain 
a  seoret  walk  with  Qod,  to  be  holy  a9  he  is  holy,  this  is  the  la- 


OF   THE   AUTHOR.  XXXVU 

bor,  this  the  work.  I  beg  the  assistance  of  your  prayers  in  so 
grand  and  important  an  enterprise.  The  difficulty  of  the  minis- 
terial work  seems  to  grow  upon  my  hands.  Perhaps  once,  in 
three  or  four  months,  I  preach  in  some  measure  as  I  could  wish; 
that  is,  I  preach  as  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  as  if  I  were  to  step 
from  the  pulpit  to  the  supremo  tribunal.  I  feel  my  subject.  I 
melt  into  tears  or  I  shudder  with  horror,  when  I  denounce  the 
terrors  of  the  Lord.  I  glow,  I  soar  in  sacred  ecstasies,  when  the 
love  of  Jesus  is  my  theme,  and,  as  Mr.  Baxter  was  wont  to  ex- 
press it,  in  lines  more  striking  to  me  than  all  the  fine  poetry  in 
the  world, 

'I  preach  as  if  I  ne'er  should  preach  again ; 
And  as  a  dying  man  to  dying  men.' 

But,  alas !  my  spirits  soon  flag,  my  devotions  languish,  and  my 
zeal  cools.  It  is  really  an  afflictive  thought,  that  I  serve  so  good 
a  Master  with  so  much  inconstancy ;  but  so  it  is,  and  my  soul 
mourns  upon  that  account. 

UI  am  just  beginning  to  creep  back  from  the  valley  of  the  sha- 
dow of  death,  to  which  I  made  a  very  near  approach  a  few  days 
ago.  I  was  seized  with  a  most  violent  fever,  which  came  to  a 
crisis  in  a  week ;  and  now  it  is  much  abated,  though  I  am  still 
confined  to  my  chamber.  In  this  shattered  state,  my  trembling 
hand  can  write  but  little  to  you ;  and  what  I  write  will  be  lan- 
guid and  confused,  like  its  author.  But  as  the  Virginia  fleet  is 
about  to  sail,  and  I  know  not  when  I  shall  have  another  oppor- 
tunity, I  cannot  avoid  writing  something.  I  would  sit  down  on 
the  grave's  mouth,  and  talk  awhile  with  my  favorite  friend  ;  and 
from  my  situation  you  may  foresee  what  subjects  my  conversa- 
tion will  turn  upon — Death — Eternity — the  Supreme  Tribunal. 

"  Blessed  be  my  master's  name,  this  disorder  found  me  em- 
ployed in  his  service.  It  seized  me  in  the  pulpit — like  a  soldier 
wounded  in  the  field.  This  has  been  a  busy  summer  with  me. 
In  about  two  months  I  rode  about  five  hundred  miles,  and  preach- 
ed about  forty  sermons.  This  affords  me  some  pleasure  in  the 
review.  But,  alas !  the  mixture  of  sin  and  many  nameless  im- 
perfections that  run  through  and  corrupt  all  my  services,  give  me 
shame,  sorrow,  and  mortification.  My  fever  made  unusual  rav- 
ages upon  my  understanding,  and  rendered  me  frequently  de- 


XXXV111  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

lirious,  and  always  stupid.  But,  when  I  had  any  little  sense  of 
things,  I  generally  felt  pretty  calm  and  serene ;  and  death,  that 
mighty  terror,  was  disarmed.  Indeed,  the  thought  of  leaving 
my  dear  family  destitute,  and  my  flock  shepherdless,  made  me 
often  start  back  and  cling  to  life ;  but  in  other  respects  death 
appeared  a  kind  of  indifference  to  me.  Formerly  I  have  wished 
to  live  longer,  that  I  might  be  better  prepared  for  Heaven  ;  but 
this  consideration  had  but  very  little  weight  with  me,  and  that 
for  a  very  unusual  reason,  which  was  this :  After  long  trial,  I 
found  this  world  is  a  place  so  unfriendly  to  the  growth  of  every 
thing  Divine  and  Heavenly,  that  I  was  afraid,  if  I  should  live 
longer,  I  should  be  no  better  fitted  for  Heaven  than  I  am.  In- 
deed, I  have  hardly  any  hopes  of  ever  making  any  great  attain- 
ments in  holiness  while  in  this  world,  though  I  should  be  doom- 
ed to  stay  in  it  as  long  as  Methuselah.  I  see  other  Christians, 
indeed,  around  me,  make  some  progress,  though  they  go  on  with 
but  a  snail-like  motion;  but  when  I  consider  that  I  set  out 
about  twelve  years  old,  and  what  sanguine  hopes  I  then  had  of 
my  future  progress,  and  yet  that  I  have  been  almost  at  a  stand 
ever  since,  I  am  quite  discouraged.  O  my  good  master,  if  I  may 
dare  to  call  thee  so,  I  am  afraid  I  shall  never  serve  thee  much 
better  on  this  side  the  region  of  perfection.  The  thought  grieves 
me :  it  breaks  my  heart,  but  I  can  hardly  hope  better.  But  if  I 
have  the  least  spark  of  true  piety  in  my  breast,  I  shall  not  always 
labor  under  this  complaint.  JSTo,  my  Lord,  I  shall  yet  serve 
thee — serve  thee  through  an  immortal  duration — with  the  activ- 
ity, the  fervor,  the  perfection  of  the  rapt  seraph  that  adores  and 
turyis.  I  very  much  suspect  this  desponding  view  of  the  matter 
is  wrong ;  and  I  do  not  mention  it  with  approbation,  but  only 
relate  it  as  an  unusual  reason  for  my  willingness  to  die,  which  I 
never  felt  before,  and  which  I  could  not  suppress. 

"In  my  sickness,  I  found  the  unspeakable  importance  of  a 
Mediator  in  a  religion  for  sinners.  O  !  I  could  have  given  you 
the  word  of  a  dying  man  for  it,  that  that  Jesus,  whom  you 
preach,  is  indeed  a  necessary,  and  an  all-sufficient  Savior.  In- 
deed, he  is  the  only  support  for  a  departing  soul.  None  but 
Christ — none  hut  Christ  !  Had  I  as  many  good  works  as 
Abraham  or  Paul,  I  would  not  have  dared  to  build  my  hopes 
upon  such  a  quicksand,  but  only  on  this  firm  eternal  rock. 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  XXXIX 

"  I  am  rising  up,  my  brother,  with  a  desire  to  recommend  him 
better  to  my  fellow-sinners  than  I  have  done.  But,  alas  !  I  hardly 
hope  to  accomplish  it.  He  has  done  a  great  deal  more  by  me 
already  than  I  ever  expected,  and  infinitely  more  than  I  deserved. 
But  he  never  intended,  me  for  great  things.  He  has  beings,  both 
of  my  own  and  of  superior  orders,  that  can  perform  him  more 
worthy  service.  O !  if  I  might  but  untie  the  latchet  of  his  shoes, 
or  draw  water  for  the  service  of  his  sanctuary,  it  is  enough  for 
me.     I  am  no  antrel,  nor  would  I  murmur  because  I  am  not. 

"  My  strength  fails  me,  and  I  must  give  over.     Pray  for  me 
write  to   me.     Love  me,   living  and  dying,   on   earth   and  in 
heaven." 

2.  He  was  distinguished  for  an  imagination  singularly  rich  and 
sublime.  He  was  himself  a  poet,  and  the  characteristics  of  a 
poetic  genius  are  seen  in  rich  abundance  on  the  pages  of  his  ser- 
mons. His  language  is  elevated,  glowing,  and  warm  from  the 
heart;  and  the  scenes  which  he  describes  are  placed  before  the 
mind  with  a  most  vivid  reality.  Occasionally,  indeed,  there  is  a 
luxuriancy  amounting  to  redundancy  in  the  images  which  he 
uses,  and  a  want  of  care  in- his  style,  which  he  probably  would 
himself  have  corrected,  had  he  lived  to  a  more  mature  age,  or 
had  he  lived  to  publish  his  sermons  himself.  Indeed,  there  are 
some  expressions  in  his  discourse  on  the  General  Judgment, 
which  now  would  be  regarded  as  bordering  on  the  ludicrous ; 
and  which  a  more  chastened  imagination,  or  a  severe  criticism, 
would  have  removed.  His  sermons,  moreover,  are  not  distin- 
guished for  minute  accuracy  of  language,  or  those  terse  periods 
which  many  later  compositions  of  the  same  kind  possess.  Occa- 
sionally, also,  we  meet  with  something  that  appears  loose,  tumid 
and  declamatory.  The  general  tenor  of  the  sentences,  however, 
is  harmonious;  and  there  is  such  an  unction  of  piety  and  popu- 
larity of  manner ;  there  are  so  elevated  conceptions,  and  such  a 
variety  of  beautiful  images,  that  the  minor  imperfections  are  for- 
gotten, and  the  reader  is  borne  along  with  the  subject,  charmed 
by  the  happy  union  of  genius  and  piety  everywhere  apparent. 
When  delivered  by  a  man  of  the  noble  bearing,  the  fine  form, 
the  eloquent  gesticulation,  the  fervor  of  manner,  and  the  heart 
and  soul  of  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Davies,  it  is  easy  to  understand 


Xl  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

the  reason  why  he  had  so  commanding  an  influence  over  a 
popular  audience,  and  why  he  was  characterized  as  "  the  prince 
of  preachers." 

3.  He  was  distinguished  for  strong  and  vigorous  sense ;  for 
just  thinking,  powerful  reasoning,  and  pungent  addresses  to  the 
conscience  and  the  heart.  In  an  argument,  the  hearer  is  con- 
ducted from  point  to  point  by  a  clear  chain  of  connected  reason- 
ing, and  every  position  is  sustained ;  and  in  direct  appeals  to 
men,  the  conscience  is  made  to  respond  to  the  claims  which  the 
preacher  urges.  Under  the  delivery  of  these  sermons,  it  would 
have  been  impossible  for  a  well-educated  and  thinking  skeptic 
not  to  feel  that  their  was  much  in  Christianity  which  demanded 
his  attention,  or  for  any  man  not  to  feel  that  religion  had  claims 
on  the  conscience  and  the  heart  superior  to  all  other  claims. 

4.  President  Davies  was  a  man  who  regarded  ample  prepara- 
tion as  indispensable  for  the  successful  performance  of  the  duties 
of  the  ministry.  His  sermons  bear  the  marks  of  having  been 
prepared  with  great  care  ;  and  we  know  what  were  his  views 
on  that  subject.  He  possessed  uncommon  facility  for  making  at- 
tainments in  his  studies,  and  gained  knowledge  with  an  ease 
with  whicli  few  are  favored  ;  but  still,  the  consciousness  of  this 
never  deterred  him  from  intense  application,  and  from  the  use  of 
all  the  means  in  his  power  for  enlarging  the  boundaries  of  his 
attainments.  He  is  known  to  have  declared,  that  "  every  dis- 
course of  his,  which  he  thought  worthy  of  the  name  of  a  sermon, 
cost  him  four  days'  hard  study  in  the  preparation."  It  was  owing 
to  this  toil,  as  well  as  to  the  extraordinary  talents  with  which 
he  had  been  endowed,  that  he  became,  perhaps,  the  most  elo- 
quent and  accomplished  pulpit  orator  that  this  country  has  pro- 
duced ;  that  he  was  more  successful  in  winning  souls  to  the  Re- 
deemer than  any  other  minister  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  if 
we  except,  perhaps,  Whitfield  and  Edwards  ;  and  that  his  ser- 
mons have  been  probably  more  popular  than  any  other  sermons 
which  have  ever  issued  from  the  American  press.  Before  the 
year  1800,  nine  editions  had  been  published;  and  it  would  be 
difficult  to  estimate  the  number  that  have  been  issued  in  Great 
Britain  and  in  this  country.     When   the  size  and  expense  of 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  xli 

the  work  is  considered,  and  when  it  is  remembered  that  his  ser- 
mons are  almost  wholly  posthumous  in  their  publication,  such 
an  expression  of  the  public  favor  is  the  most  conclusive  proof  of 
their  value. 

5.  President  Davies  was  a  warm  and  ardent  friend  of  revivals 
of  religion.  The  age  in  which  he  lived  was  characterized  emi- 
nently by  such  works  of  grace,  and  his  heart  sympathized  with 
those  who  prayed  for  them,  and  who  were  blessed  with  them. 
He  sympathized  with  the  Tennents,  and  with  Edwards  and  Bella- 
my, in  their  views  of  such  displays  of  the  divine  power,  and  nothing 
gave  him  more  joy  than  the  evidence  of  the  presence  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  attending  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  with  a  blessing. 
The  following  extract  from  a  letter  to  a  friend  in  England  on 
this  subject,  lays  open  the  secrets  of  his  soul  in  reference  to  re- 
vivals of  religion. 

"  The  best  news  that  perhaps  I  ever  heard  in  my  life,  I  lately 
received  from  my  favorite  friend,  Mr.  Samuel  Finley,  minister 
of  Nottingham,  in  Pennsylvania,  tutor  of  a  large  academy,  and 
one  of  the  trustees  of  the  college  of  New  Jersey.  I  had  sent  him 
some  extracts  from  my  British  letters,  giving  an  account  of  the 
revival  of  religion  in  sundry  parts  of  England,  particularly  among 
the  clergy  :  in  answer  to  which  he  writes  thus : 

"'April  16,  1757.  I  greatly  rejoice  that  our  Lord  Jesus  has 
put  it  in  my  power  to  make  you  a  large  compensation  for  the 
good  news  you  sent  me.  God  has  done  great  things  for  us.  Our 
glorious  Redeemer  poured  out  his  Holy  Spirit  upon  the  students 
of  our  college ;  not  one  of  all  who  were  present  neglected — and 
they  were  in  number  sixty.  The  whole  house,  say  my  corre- 
spondents, was  a  Bochim.  Mr.  William  Tennent,  who  was  on 
the  spot,  says,  he  "never  saw  any  in  that  case  who  had  more 
clear  views  of  God,  themselves,  and  their  defects — their  impo- 
tence and  misery,  than  they  had  in  general :  that  there  never 
was,  he  believes,  in  any  house,  more  genuine  sorrow  for  sin,  and 
longing  after  Jesus :  that  this  glorious  work  was  gradual,  and 
spread  like  the  increasing  light  of  the  morning :  that  it  was  not 
begun  by  the  ordinary  methods  of  preaching,  nor  promoted  by 
alarming  methods;  yet  so  great  was  their  distress,  that  he 
judged  it  improper  to  use  any  arguments  of  terror  in  public,  lest 


Xlil  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

some  should  sink  under  the  weight :  that  what  makes  the  gra- 
cious visitation  more  remarkable  was,  that  a  little  before,  some 
of  the  youth  had  given  a  greater  loose  to  their  corruptions  than 
was  ordinary  among  them;  a  spirit  of  pride  and  contention  pre-: 
vailing,  to  the  great  grief  and  even  discouragement  of  the  worthy 
President :  that  there  were  no  public  outcries,  but  a  decorous, 
silent  solemnity  ;  that  before  he  came  away,  several  had  received 
something  like  the  spirit  of  adoption  ;  being  tenderly  affected 
with  the  sense  of  redeeming  love,  and  thereby  disposed  and  de- 
termined to  endeavor  after  universal  holiness." 

"  '  Mr.  Treat  and  Mr.  G.  Tennent  tell  me  in  theirs,  that  the 
concern  appeared  rational,  solid,  and  scriptural ;  and  that  in  a 
remarkable  degree.  I  was  informed  by  some  of  the  students 
who  had  been  my  pupils,  that  this  religious  concern  first  began 
with  the  son  of  a  very  considerable  gentleman  of  New  York. 
The  youth  was  dangerously  sick  at  college ;  and  on  that  occa- 
sion, awakened  to  a  sense  of  his  guilt.  His  discourse  made 
some  impression  on  a  few  others,  and  theirs  again  on  more;  so 
that  it  became  almost  general,  before  the  good  President,  or  any 
others,  knew  anything  of  it.  As  soon  as  it  became  public,  mis- 
representations were  spread  abroad ;  and  some  gentleman  sent 
to  bring  their  sons  home.  But  upon  better  information,  the  most 
were  sent  back  again.  The  wicked  companions  of  some  young 
gentlemen,  left  no  methods  untried  to  recover  them  to  their  for- 
mer excess  of  riot;  and  with  two  or  three  have  been  lamentably 
successful. 

utMr.  Duffield  (a  worthy  young  minister)  informed  me  the 
other  day,  that  a  very  hopeful  religious  concern  spread  through 
the  Jerseys,  especially  among  young  people.  In  several  letters 
from  Philadelphia,  from  Mr.  G.  Tennent  and  others.  I  have  an 
assurance  of  a  revival  there  for  which  good  people  are  blessing 
God.  Lawyer  Stockton  informs  me,  that  he  is  certified  by  good 
authority,  of  a  gracious  work  of  God  at  Yale  College,  in  New 
Haven.' 

"  This,  sir,  is  some  of  the  best  news  from  one  of  the  best  of  my 
correspondents.  You  will  join  with  me  in  blessing  God,  and  con- 
gratulating posterity,  upon  this  happy,  surprising  revolution,  in  a 
college  to  which  the  eager  eyes  of  so  many  churches  look  for 
supplies.     Perhaps  it  may  afford  me  the  more  pleasure,  as  my 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  xllU 

having  taken  so  ranch  pains  to  promote  that  institution,  gives 
me  a  kind  of  paternal  solicitude  for  it,  though  I  live  near  four 
hundred  miles  from  it. 

"The  finger  of  God  is  the  more  conspicuous  in  this  affair,  as 
the  students,  who  had  so  often  heard  such  excellent  sermons 
from  the  worthy  President,  and  from  the  many  ministers  from 
various  parts,  who  have  occasionally  officiated  there,  without  any 
general  good  effects,  should  be  universally  awakened  by  means 
of  a  sick  boy.  Though  this  college  was  well  founded,  and  well 
conducted,  yet  I  must  own,  I  was  often  afraid  it  was  degener- 
ating into  a  college  of  mere  learning.  But  now  my  fears  are 
removed,  by  the  prospect  that  sincere  piety,  that  grand  ministe- 
rial qualification,  will  make  equal  advances." 

6.  President  Davies  was  an  ardent  and  devoted  friend  of  his 
country.  He  lived  in  the  forming  period  of  our  history,  and  he 
exerted  his  great  influence  in  vindication  of  his  country's  rights. 
The  country  was  alarmed  and  agitated  to  the  highest  degree  by 
the  French  and  Indian  Avar,  while  he  was  a  pastor  in  Virginia. 
There  was  even  much  talk  of  abandoning  a  part  of  the  colony  of 
Virginia  to  the  enemy.  On  the  10th  of  July,  1755,  General 
Braddock  sustained  his  memorable  defeat,  and  the  remnant  of 
his  array  was  saved  by  the  courage  and  skill  of  Colonel  Washing- 
ton, then  only  twenty-three  years  old.  On  the  20th  of  this  month, 
Mr.  Davies  preached  a  sermon  "  On  the  defeat  of  General  Brad- 
dock,  going  to  Fort  Du  Quesne."  In  this  sermon,  he  calls  on  all 
his  hearers,  in  the  most  impassioned  and  animating  strains,  to 
show  "  themselves  men,  Britons  and  Christains,  and  to  make 
a  noble  stand  for  the  blessings  they  enjoyed."  It  was  feared  the 
negroes  would  rise  up  and  join  the  French.  His  influence  among 
the  blacks  was  greater,  perhaps,  than  that  of  any  other  man ; 
and  he  used  it  all  to  persuade  and  deter  them  from  joining  the 
enemy.  In  August,  of  the  same  year,  he  delivered  a  sermon  in 
Hanover,  to  Captain  Overton's  company  of  independent  volun- 
teers, under  the  title  of  "  Religion  and  patriotism  the  constitu- 
ents of  a  good  soldier."  It  was  in  a  note  to  his  sermon,  that  he 
expressed  the  hope,  which  has  been  so  often  since  noticed  in  re- 
gard to  "Washington.  "  As  a  remarkable  instance  of  this  [of  the 
fact  that  God  had  '  diffused  some  sparks  of  martial  fire  through 


xliv 


LIFE    AND    TIMES 


the  country1],  I  may  point  out,"  said  he,  "  to  the  public  that  he- 
roic youth,  Colonel  Washington,  whom  I  cannot  but  hope  Provi- 
dence has  hitherto  preserved,  in  so  signal  a  manner,  for  so  me  im- 
portant service  to  his  country.'1'' 

"  The  celebrated  Patrick  Henry,"  says  Dr.  Green,  "  is  known 
to  have  spoken  in  terms  of  enthusiasm  of  Mr.  Davies.  And  as 
that  great  statesman  and  powerful  orator  lived  from  his  eleventh 
to  his  twenty -second  year,  in  the  neighborhood  where  his  patri- 
otic sermons  were  delivered,  and  which  produced  effects  as  pow- 
erful as  those  ascribed  to  Demosthenes  himself,  it  has  been  sup- 
posed, with  much  probability,  that  it  was  Mr.  Davies  who  first 
kindled  the  fire,  and  afforded  the  model  of  Henry's  elocution." 

As  a  preacher,  President  Davies  was  eminently  fitted  to  the 
times  in  which  he  lived.  He  was  one  of  the  great  men  whom 
God  raised  up  at  that  time  to  impress  their  features  on  the  age, 
and  to  mould  the  opinions  of  their  countrymen.  He  was  such  a 
preacher  as  the  times  then  demanded,  and  such  a  preacher,  in 
the  great  features  of  his  ministry,  as  this  age  also  demands  ;  and 
had  he  lived  now,  he  would  have  fallen  in  with,  or  rather  would 
have  been  a  leader  in  all  that  is.  good  that  characterizes  this 
generation.  It  is  not  presumption,  nor  should  it  pass  for  mere 
conjecture,  to  say,  that  with  the  advantages  which  we  now  en- 
joy, he  would  have  been  an  eminently  close  student  of  the  Bible  ; 
a  friend  of  the  great  enterprises  of  Christian  benevolence ;  an 
advocate  of  temperance  and  of  revivals ;  an  enemy  of  wild  and 
visionary  views,  of  strife,  and  bigotry  and  schism  ;  as  a  man  of 
charity  and  liberality  of  sentiment ;  a  preacher  disposed  to  unite 
with  all  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus,  in  efforts  to  do  good ;  and  a 
friend  of  Christian  liberty  and  peace. 

On  occasion,  therefore,  of  issuing  these  sermons  again  from 
the  press,  and  of  bringing  before  the  public  mind  and  heart  the 
name  of  an  American  so  distinguished  as  he  was,  I  have  thought 
it  would  not  be  inappropriate  to  suggest  some  thoughts  in  con- 
nection with  this  publication,  on  the  kind  of  preaching  that  this 
age  demands,  or  the  kind  of  ministry  fitted  to  the  times  in  ichich 
we  live.  The  importance  of  this  subject,  with  reference  to  the 
welfare  of  our  country,  and  the  interest  which  is  everywhere  felt 
in  it,  will  furnish,  it  is  hoped,  an  apology  for  such  suggestions. 
The  subject  itself  is  such,  that  no  one  can  over-estimate  its  im- 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  xlv 

portance ;  and  he  who  contributes  any  thoughts  that  may  be  of 
even  inconsiderable  value  in  themselves,  is  doing  something  to 
serve  his  generation.  Believing  that  the  edition  of  the  sermons 
of  Davies  now  issued  will  have  an  extensive  circulation,  it  is  not 
denied  that  the  hope  is  cherished,  in  making  these  suggestions, 
to  reach  some  minds  that  could  not  otherwise  be  accessible,  and 
to  do  something  to  elevate  the  prevailing  views  of  the  sacredness 
and  the  importance  of  the  office  of  the  Christian  ministry.  The 
suggestions  are  submitted  with  deference,  particularly  to  those 
who  are  candidates  for  this  high  office,  and  who  are  inquiring 
with  solicitude  what  shall  be  the  great  object  of  their  aim  in  the 
work  to  which  they  have  devoted  their  lives. 

It  has  been  comparatively  rare,  in  this  world,  that  any  indi- 
vidual has  embarked  on  life,  or  on  any  enterprise,  with  a  deter- 
mined purpose  to  see  how  much  could  be  done  by  the  utmost 
efforts  of  which  the  mind  and  the  body  could  be  made  capable. 
Occasionally  such  an  individual  has  appeared ;  and  appeared 
to  astonish  us  no  less  by  the  vastness  and  the  success  of  his  own 
efforts,  than  by  the  proof  which  he  has  thus  furnished  of  the  im- 
becility, and  indolence,  and  wasted  talents  of  that  great  mass  of 
mankind.  Such  a  man  was  Howard — living  to  make  "full 
proof"  of  how  much  could  be  done  in  a  single  object  of  benevo- 
lence. "The  energy  of  his  determination,"  it  has  been  said, 
"was  the  calmness  of  an  intensity  kept  uniform  by  the  nature 
of  the  human  mind  forbidding  it  to  be  more,  and  by  the  character 
of  the  individual  forbidding  it  to  be  less.  The  habitual  passion 
of  his  mind  was  a  measure  of  feeling  almost  equal  to  the  tempo- 
rary extremes  and  paroxysms  of  common  minds;  as  a  great 
river,  in  its  customary  state,  is  equal  to  a  small  or  moderate  one 
when  swollen  to  a  torrent."*  Such  a  man,  in  a  far  different  de- 
partment was  Napoleon;  living  to  illustrate  the  power  of  great 
talents  concentrated  on  a  single  object,  and  making  "  full  proof" 
of  the  terrible  energy  of  the  single  passion  of  ambition.  Such  a 
man,  too,  was  the  short-lived  Alexander ;  and,  in  a  different 
sphere,  such  a  man  was  Paul ;  and,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
euch  a  man  was  Whitfield.     But,  compared  with  the  immense 

*  Foster's  Essay  on  "Decision  of  Character." 


xivi  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

multitude  of  minds  which  have  existed  on  the  earth,  such  in- 
stances, for  good  or  evil,  have  been  rare.  iY  part  has  been 
sunk  in  indolence  from  which  no  motives  would  rouse  them. 
Part  have  been  wholly  unconscious  of  their  own  powers.  Part 
have  never  been  placed  in  circumstances  to  call  forth  their  en- 
ergies, or  have  not  been  endowed  with  original  power  to  create 
such  circumstances,  or  to  start  a  plan  that  should  require  such 
concentrated  efforts  to  complete  it.  Part  have  never  been  under 
the  right  influence,  in  the  process  of  training,  to  make  "full 
proof  "  of  the  powers  of  the  soul ;  part  have  wasted  their  talents 
in  wild  and  visionary  schemes,  unconscious  of  the  waste,  or  of 
the  main  error  of  their  life,  till  life  was  too  far  gone  to  attempt  to 
repair  the  loss  ; — some  are  thwarted  by  a  rival ;  some  meet  with 
discouragements,  are  early  disheartened,  and  give  up  all  effort 
in  despair.  Most  reach  the  close  of  life,  feeling,  if  they  have 
any  right  feeling,  that  they  have  accomplished  almost  nothing — 
the  good  usually  with  the  reflection,  that  if  they  ever  accomplish 
much,  it  must  now  be  in  a  higher  state  of  being.  Even  Grotius, 
one  of  the  most  laborious  and  useful  of  men,  is  said  to  have  ex- 
claimed near  the  close  of  his  life,  "  Proh  vitam  perdidi,  operose 
nihil  agendo." 

What  I  have  remarked  of  individual  powers,  is  true  also  of 
associated  intellects,  and  of  institutions  designed  to  act  on  man- 
kind. Full  proof  has  never  yet  been  made  of  the  power  of  the 
church  to  sanctify  and  save  the  world  ;  of  the  Bible  to  elevate 
the  human  intellect,  to  purify  the  heart,  and  to  change  the  social 
habits,  laws,  and  morals  of  mankind ;  of  the  Sabbath  to  arrest 
the  bad  influences  that  set  in  upon  man  from  the  world,  and  to 
promote  order,  happiness,  and  salvation ;  and  of  the  ministry  to 
save  souls  from  death.  There  has  been  a  vast  amount  of  un- 
developed power  in  all  these  to  affect  mankind ;  and  the  past 
furnishes  us  in  some  bright  periods  with  glimpses  of  what  is  yet 
to  be  the  living  reality,  but  the  full  proof  remains  to  benefit  and 
to  bless  some  future  age. 

The  qualifications  for  the  Christian  ministry,  in  all  ages,  and 
in  all  places,  are  essentially  the  same.  The  same  great  doc- 
trines are  to  be  preached  ;  the  same  plan  of  salvation  to  be  ex- 
plained and  defended ;  the  same  duties  toward  God,  and  toward 
man,  in  the  various  relations  of  life,  to  be  inculcated.     The  hu- 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  xlvil 

man  heart  is,  in  all  ages,  and  climes,  and  nations,  essentially  the 
same;  and  men  are  everywhere  to  be  saved  in  the  same  way. 
Man,  "  no  matter  whether  an  Indian,  an  African,"  an  European 
or  an  American  sun  has  shown  upon  him,  is  a  sinner.  lie  comes 
into  existence  a  fallen  being.  lie  enters  on  his  immortal  career 
ruined  by  the  apostasy  of  the  progenitor  of  the  race.  lie  com- 
mences life,  certain  that  he  will  begin  to  sin  as  soon  as  lie  begins 
to  act ;  and  will  sin  on  forever  in  this  world  and  the  next,  unless 
he  is  redeemed  by  atoning  blood,  and  renewed  and  sanctified  by 
the  Spirit  of  God.  For  him  there  is  no  salvation  but  in  the  sac- 
rifice of  the  Son  of  God  in  human  nature — a  vicarious  offering 
for  the  sins  cjf  men.  In  that  great  Savior  there  is  hope  ;  in  him 
there  is  full  redemption  ;  and  by  his  merits  only  can  a  sinner  be 
justified  and  stand  before  God. 

Each  successive  generation  is  to  be  met  with  this  gospel ;  and 
on  each  individual  the  influences  of  the  Holy  Ghost  are  to  be 
sought,  that  his  heart  may  be  renewed,  and  his  soul  saved.  The 
great  system  teaching  the  fall  and  ruin  of  man  ;  the  doctrine  of 
the  threefold  existence  of  the  divine  nature  ;  the  incarnation  and 
the  atonement  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  the  necessity  of  regeneration 
by  the  holy  Spirit ;  the  necessity  of  holy  living  ;  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead,  and  of  eternal  judgment,  is  to  be  proclaimed  from 
age  to  age,  and  from  land  to  land. 

The  first  essential  qualification  for  this  work,  everywhere  and 
always,  is  piety.  The  minister  should  be  a  converted  man.  He 
should  not  merely  be  a  moral  man,  or  an  amiable  man,  or  a  gift- 
ed man,  or  a  learned  man,  or  a  serious-minded  man,  or  a  man 
desirous  of  being  converted ;  he  should  be  a  regenerated  man. 
He  should  have  such  evidence  on  that  point  as  not  to  have  his 
own  mind  embarrassed  and  perplexed  on  it ;  such  as  never  to 
leave  a  doubt  amounting  to  "  a  shadow  of  a  shade  "  on  the  mind 
of  others.  He  should  have  confidence  in  God.  He  should  have 
no  doubt  of  the  truth  of  the  system  which  he  defends ;  he  should 
have  no  doubt  that  God  intends  to  bless  that  system  of  truth 
which  he  preaches  to  save  the  world.  At  all  times ;  in  all 
lands;  in  every  variety  of  the  fluctuating  customs  and  laws 
among  mankind,  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  should  be  "  wise  as 
serpents,  and  harmless  as  doves ;"  they  should  be  "  blameless, 
vigilant,  sober,  of  good  behavior" — or  modest  (marg.) — koo/ilov — 


Xlviil  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

u  given  to  hospitality,  apt  to  teach,  not  given  to  wine — ^  Ttdpoivos 
— (marg.  '  not  ready  to  quarrel,  and  offer  wrong  as  one  in  wine' 
— '  not  sitting  long  by  wine,1  Robinson)  ;  no  striker,  not  greedy 
of  filthy  lucre,  not  a  brawler,  not  covetous ;  he  should  not  be  a 
novice — (marg.  '  one  newly  come  to  the  faith' — vi6<pvrov)  ;  and 
he  must  have  a  good  report  of  them  which,  are  without.  In  all 
ages  and  places,  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  are  to  preach  the 
word  ;  they  are  to  be  instant  in  season,  out  of  season  ;  they  are 
to  give  attendance  to  reading,  to  exhortation,  to  doctrine — 
(didaona/.ia,  teaching) ;  they  are  to  reprove,  rebuke,  exhort,  with 
all  long-suffering  ;  they  are  to  be  lovers  of  good  men,  sober,  just, 
holy,  temperate ;  they  are  to  follow  after  righteousness,  godli- 
ness, faith,  love,  patience,  meekness  ;  they  are  to  fight  the  good 
fight  of  faith,  and  to  lay  hold  on  eternal  life ;  they  are  to  watch 
in  all  things,  endure  afflictions,  do  the  work  of  evangelists,  make 
full  proof  of  their  ministry." 

Never  were  the  general  qualifications  of  the  ministry  better 
drawn  by  an  uninspired  pen  than  in  the  well-known  words  of 
Cowper : 

"  Would  I  describe  a  preacher,  such  as  Paul, 
Were  he  on  earth,  would  hear,  approve,  and  own, 
Paul  should  himself  direct  me.     I  would  trace 
His  master-strokes,  and  draw  from  his  design  ; 
I  would  express  him  simple,  grave,  sincere ; 
In  doctrine  uncorrupt ;  in  language  plain, 
And  plain  in  manner,  decent,  solemn,  chaste 
And  natural  in  gesture ;    much  impressed 
Himself,  as  conscious  of  his  awful  charge, 
And  anxious  mainly  that  the  flock  he  feeds 
May  feel  it  too  ;  affectionate  in  look, 
And  tender  in  address,  as  well  becomes 
A  messenger  of  grace  to  guilty  men."  Task,  B.  ft. 

But  while  it  is  true  that  the  qualifications  for  the  Christian 
ministry  are  always  essentially  the  same,  it  is  also  true  that  dif- 
ferent contries,  ages,  and  fields  of  labor  require  peculiar  endow- 
ments in  those  wiio  minister  at  the  altar.  Some  great  duty  or 
class  of  duties  in  one  age  or  country  shall  demand  peculiarly  to 
be  inculcated ;  some  gigantic  form  of  wickedness  is  to  be  met 
and  overthrown  ;  some  far-spreading  and  subtle  error  is  to  be  de- 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  xlix 

tected  and  removed  ;  some  great  enterprise  for  the  welfare  of 
man  is  to  be  originated,  vindicated,  and  sustained  ;  or  some  pro- 
pensity of  the  age  or  country  shall  need  to  be  counteracted  and 
opposed  by  all  the  power  and  talent  of  the  Christian  ministry. 
In  the  times  of  the  apostles,  great  energy  of  character  was  de- 
manded; great  self-denial  and  readiness  to  meet  privation  and 
danger ;  and  great  wisdom  in  standing  up  to  oppose  the  systems 
of  philosophy  which  had  so  long  reigned  over  the  human  mind. 
A  spirit  of  noble  enterprise  and  bold  daring  was  demanded,  to 
cross  seas  and  lands ;  to  encounter  perils  and  storms  ;  to  be  ready 
to  stand  on  trial  before  kings,  and  to  meet  death  in  any  form,  in 
such  a  way  as  to  do  honor  to  religion.  The  prevailing  systems 
of  religion  were  sustained  by  all  the  wisdom  of  philosophy,  and 
by  all  the  power  of  the  civil  arm  ;  and  the  very  boldness  of  the 
new  preachers,  their  zeal  and  disinterestedness,  and  conscious- 
ness of  having  the  truth,  was  to  strike  dismay  into  the  friends  of 
idolatry,  and  under  God  to  change  the  religion  of  the  world. 
Such  men  were  found  in  Paul  and  his  fellow-laborers  ;  men  great 
in  all  the  essential  qualifications  of  the  sacred  office,  and  men 
peculiarly  adapted  to  the  times  in  which  they  lived.  In  subse- 
quent times,  to  be  a  Christian  was  to  be  a  martyr ;  to  be  a  min- 
ister of  religion  was  to  be  in  the  front  ranks  of  those  who  consti- 
tuted the  great  procession  that  was  led  to  the  rack  or  the  stake ; 
and  the  times  demanded  men  of  steady  firmness  of  purpose  and 
of  unwavering  confidence  in  God ;  men  who  could  cheer  their 
fellow-sufferers,  and  teach  them  how  to  die,  as  well  as  how  to 
live ;  and  such  men  in  early  times  were  found  in  Ignatius  and 
Polycarp;  in  later  times  in  Pwidley  and  Latimer. 

Again,  subtle  and  profound  systems  of  philosophy  came  into 
the  church,  and  the  simplicity  of  the  faith  began  to  be  corrupt- 
ed ;  and  then  was  demanded  the  aid  of  men  who  could  follow 
out  the  mazes  of  sophistry,  and  expose  skilful  error ;  and  such 
men  were  found  as  Athanasius  and  Augustine  ;  in  later  times 
such  men  as  Horsly  and  Edwards.  Times  like  the  Reformation, 
also,  demanded  a  peculiar  order  of  ministers.  All  the  other 
qualifications  of  almost  every  other  age  seemed  to  be  required  in 
combination.  A  spirit  bold  and  firm  to  meet  power  and  rebuke 
sin  in  the  high  places  of  ecclesiastical  office,  as  well  as  on 
thrones;  a  readiness  to  meet  martyrdom,  and  a  patience  in  suf- 


1  LIFE    AND    TIME8 

fering  such  as  was  demanded  in  the  days  of  Polycarp  and  Igna- 
tius;  the  power  of  detecting  and  exposing  subtle  error  in  the 
most  skilfully  constructed  system  of  error  that  has  ever  obtained 
an  ascendency  over  the  human  mind;  requiring  far  more  ability 
than  was  requisite  to  meet  the  subtilty  of  the  ancient  philosophy ; 
and  God  raised  up  such  men.  The  ministry  furnished  such  men 
as  Luther,  and  Calvin,  and  Knox,  and  Oranmer ;  and  never  were 
the  demands  of  an  interesting  age  of  the  world  better  met  than 
by  the  labors  of  those  men.  They  were  made  what  they  were 
in  part  by  the  times  in  which  they  lived  ;  but  they  would  have 
been  adapted  to  any  age,  and  would  have  left  the  impress  of 
their  great  minds  upon  it.  The  idea  which  I  have  endeavored 
thus  far  to  illustrate  is,  that  the  qualifications  for  the  ministry, 
at  all  times,  and  in  all  lands,  are  essentially  the  same :  a  pious 
heart,  a  prudent  mind,  a  sober  judgment,  well-directed  and 
glowing  zeal,  self-denial,  simplicity  of  aim,  and  deadness  to  the 
world  ;  but  that  these  qualifications  are  to  be  somewhat  modi- 
fied by  the  peculiarities  of  each  age ;  and  that  the  age  in  which 
men  live  must  be  studied  in  order  that  they  may  make  M  full 
proof  of  their  ministry." 

I  proceed  now  to  what  I  intend  as  the  main  design  of  this  part 
of  this  essay,  to  inquire  what  are  the  qualifications  for  the  minis- 
try which  are  peculiarly  demanded  by  our  times  and  country. 
What  should  be  the  grand  aim  of  the  ministry  ?  For  what  should 
the  ministers  of  the  gospel  be  peculiarly  distinguished  ?  It  may 
be  impossible  to  consider  these  questions  without  trenching 
somewhat  on  what  I  have  mentioned  as  the  essential  qualifica- 
tions of  the  ministry  at  all  times,  but  my  main  object  will  not  be 
interfered  with. 

1.  The  times  in  which  we  live  demand  of  the  ministry  a  close, 
and  patient,  and  honest  investigation  of  the  Bible.  The  general 
reasons  for  this  are  too  obvious  to  detain  us.  The  truths  which 
the  ministry  is  to  present  are  to  be  derived  from  the  word  of  God. 
They  are  not  the  truths  of  mental  philosophy  ;  they  are  not  the 
theories  formed  by  a  fertile  imagination;  they  are  not  the  opin- 
ions held  by  men;  they  are  not  systems  embodied  merely  in 
creeds  and  symbols,  they  are  the  ever-fresh  and  ever-living  truths 
of  the  Bible.     It  is  almost  too  obvioua  to  need  remark,  that  the 


OP    THE    AUTHOR.  H 

man  who  goes  forth  to  proclaim  the  gospel,  should  be  able,  at 
least,  to  read  it  in  the  language  in  which  it  was  originally  pen- 
ned. Why  should  a  man  attempt  to  expound  a  message  which 
he  can  neither  read  nor  understand  as  it  came  from  the  hand  of 
him  who  commissioned  him  ?  Can  there  be  a  more  evident  un- 
fitness for  his  work  than  to  be  ignorant  of  the  very  document 
which  it  is  the  main  business  of  his  life  to  explain  to  others  ?  It 
is  almost  too  absurd  for  grave  remark,  to  speak  of  an  ambassador 
who  cannot,  except  by  an  interpreter,  read  his  own  credentials  ; 
of  a  lawyer  who  cannot  read  the  laws  which  he  expounds  ;  of  a 
teacher  who  cannot  read  even  the  books  which  he  professes  to 
teach. 

And  yet  it  is  as  true  as  it  is  melancholy,  that  the  business  of 
studying  the  Bible,  in  any  proper  sense  of  the  word  study,  is  a 
business  to  which  even  in  the  ministry  there  is  often  a  sad  reluc- 
tance. I  speak  now  of  the  fair  and  honest  study  of  the  Scriptures 
in  the  language  in  which  they  were  originally  written,  and  in  the 
use  of  all  the  helps  which  the  God  of  Providence  and  grace  has 
now  given  to  illustrate  this  most  wonderful  ancient  book  which 
the  ministry  is  called  to  explain  and  defend.  Who  knows  not 
how  reluctantly  this  is  approached  even  in  the  seminaries  of 
Christian  theology?  Who  knows  not  how  it  is  often  laid  aside 
as  Boon  as  the  departing  evangelist  has  bid  adieu  to  the  place  of 
his  theological  training  ?  And  who  knows  not  that  the  whole 
arrangement  of  the  "study  "  afterwards  contemplates  the  removal 
of  all  books  written  in  the  Greek  and  Hebrew  tongue  to  the  most 
remote  and  unfrequented  department  of  the  Library  ?  And  who 
is  ignorant  of  the  fact,  that  to  multitudes  of  ministers  in  this  land, 
with  all  the  advantages  which  they  have  had,  the  original  lan- 
guages of  the  Scriptures  are  unapproached  and  inapproachable 
treasures — gold  and  diamonds  hidden  from  their  view,  or  rich  ore 
which  they  are  incapable  of  turning  up  to  find  the  truth.  The 
study  of  the  original  languages  of  the  Scriptures  in  our  semina- 
ries is  often  like  the  study  of  music  in  the  schools  of  female  edu- 
cation. Many  a  weary  hour  is  spent  upon  it ;  many  a  difficulty 
met  and  surmounted ;  and  when  the  sober  business  of  life  is  en- 
tered on,  music  is  laid  aside  as  useless,  or  its  memory  is  revived 
only  to  amuse  an  idle  hour,  or  to  please  the  transient  guesfc. 
Happy  would  it  be  if  the  ministers  of  religion  would,  even  for 


Hi  J.IFE    AND    TIMES 

amusement,  recall  the  study  of  the  languages  in  which  holy  men 
spoke  and  wrote.  But  a  higher  motive  assuredly  should  lead 
them  to  it — the  high  motive  of  being  able  to  understand  the  book 
to  an  explanation  of  which  they  have  devoted  their  lives. 

The  age  in  which  we  live  is  not,  as  it  seems  to  me,  distinguish- 
ed for  simple  and  direct  appeals  to  the  Bible,  in  defence  of  the 
doctrines  of  religion.  Extensively  it  is  an  age  in  which  the  ap- 
peal is  made  to  the  opinions  of  the  fathers  ;  to  the  authority  of 
creeds  and  symbols  of  faith  ;  to  the  opinions  of  other  times  ;  an 
age  in  which  to  depart  from  those  symbols  and  opinions,  or  to 
doubt  their  infallibility,  is  regarded  writh  suspicion,  and  when 
such  a  departure  in  the  slightest  degree  turns  many  an  eye  with 
deep  vigilance  on  the  first  steps  of  the  wanderer.  By  many  it  is 
held,  or  rather  felt,  that  the  system  of  religious  doctrine  has  been 
settled  by  the  investigations  of  the  past ;  that  there  is  no  hope  of 
discovering  any  new  truth ;  that  theology,  as  now  held,  is  not 
susceptible  of  improvement ;  that  the  whole  field  has  been  dug 
over  again  and  again  with  instruments  as  finished  as  our  own, 
and  by  as  keen-sighted  laborers  as  any  of  the  present  age  can  be  ; 
and  that  it  is  presumption  for  a  man  to  hope  to  find  in  those  mines 
a  new  gem  that  would  sparkle  in  the  crown  of  truth. 

No  good  or  grateful  man  will  undervalue  the  wisdom  of  the 
past.  lie  will  be  thankful  for  all  the  toil  of  the  hands,  the  head 
and  the  heart,  by  which  we  are  placed  in  our  present  advanced 
position  over  other  times.  In  religion,  as  well  as  in  everything 
else,  we  are  acting  on  the  results,  and  deriving  the  full  benefit  of 
the  experience  of  the  past.  We  reap  the  fruits  of  all  the  self-de- 
nials and  sacrifices  ;  the  profound  studies,  the  travels,  the  skilful 
inventions,  and  the  sufferings  of  past  times.  Every  happy  dis- 
covery, every  ingenious  invention,  every  hour  of  patient  study, 
every  improvement  in  past  times,  has  gone  into  the  amelioration 
of  the  human  condition,  and  has  contributed  its  part  to  the  civili- 
zation and  refinement  of  the  age  in  which  we  live.  There  has 
not  been  a  philosopher  who  has  not  thought  for  us  ;  not  a  traveller 
who  has  not  travelled  for  us;  not  a  defender  of  liberty  who  has 
not  fought  for  us ;  not  an  advocate  of  violated  rights  who  has  not 
pleaded  for  us ;  not  a  skilful  student  in  medicine  who  has  not  con- 
tributed something  to  make  our  condition  more  happy ;  not  a  mar- 
tvr  who  has  not  suffered  to  establish  the'  religion  whose  smiles 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  lift" 

and  sunshine  we  now  enjoy,  and  not  a  profound  thinker  in  theo- 
logy who  has  not  done  something  to  chase  away  error,  and  to 
disclose  the  truth,  that  we  may  see  it  and  be  made  better  for  it. 
"  Other  men  have  labored,  and  we  have  entered  into  their  labors. 
"VVe  begin  where  they  left  off;  we  start  on  life  under  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  and  piety  of  past  times; 
and  we  should  not  undervalue  or  despise  it. 

But  is  the  field  fully  explored  ?  Is  there  nothing  yet  to  be 
learned  from  the  bible  ?  Is  there  no  encouragement  for  us  to 
study  the  word  of  God  ?  Are  we  to  receive  the  systems  made 
ready  to  our  hands,  and  to  suppose  that  there  may  be  no  rich 
vein  in  this  bed,  that  has  not  yet  been  fully  explored  ?  Even 
were  it  so,  it  would  be  better  for  the  minister  of  religion  to  go  to 
the  Bible  and  get  his  views  of  truth  there,  than  from  any  mortal 
lips,  or  from  any  human  system  of  theology.  There  all  is  still 
fresh,  and  vigorous,  and  instinct  with  life.  The  word  of  God  is 
a  fountain  ever  fresh  and  health-giving ;  and  the  streams  that 
issue  thence  create  a  rich  verdure  where  they  flow.  They  are 
like  the  rivers  that  flow  along  in  the  deserts  in  the  East.  There 
the  course  of  a  stream  can  be  traced  afar  by  the  trees,  and  shrubs, 
and  flowers,  and  grass  that  spring  up  on  its  bank,  and  that  are 
sustained  by  it  in  its  course— a  long  waving  line  of  green  in  the 
waste  of  sands.  Where  it  winds  along,  that  line  of  verdure 
winds  along ;  where  it  expands  into  a  lake  that  expands ;  where 
it  dies  away  or  is  lost  in  the  sand,  that  disappears.  So  it  is  with 
views  of  truth  that  are  derived  from  the  word  of  God.  Their 
course  can  be  traced  along  in  a  world  not  unlike  pathless  sands, 
as  the  course  of  the  river  can  be  traced  in  the  desert.  The  Bible 
is  the  true  fountain  of  waters  in  this  world ;  and  as  we  wander 
away  from  that,  in  our  investigations  and  our  preaching,  we  wan- 
der amid  pathless  sands. 

But  can  there  be  any  improvement  in  theology  ?  Can  there 
be  any  advance  made  on  the  discoveries  of  other  times  ?  Is  it  not 
presumptuous  for  us  to  hope  to  see  what  the  keen-sighted  vision 
of  other  times  has  not  seen  ?  Is  not  the  system  of  theology  per- 
fect as  it  came  from  God?  I  answer,  yes.  And  so  was  astrono- 
my a  perfect  system  when  the  "  morning  stars  sang  together  ;" 
but  it  is  one  thing  for  the  system  to  be  perfect  as  it  came  from 
God,  and  another  for  it  to  be  perfect  as  it  appears  in  the  form  in 


llV  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

which  we  hold  it.  So  were  the  sciences  of  botany,  and  chemis- 
try, and  anatomy  perfect  as  they  came  from  God  ;  but  ages  have 
been  required  to  understand  them  as  they  existed  in  His  mind  ; 
and  other  ages  may  yet  furnish  the  means  of  improvement  on 
those  systems  as  held  by  man.  So  God  has  placed  the  gold  under 
ground,  and  the  pearls  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  for  man — perfect 
in  their  nature  as  they  came  from  his  hand.  Has  all  the  gold 
been  dug  from  the  mines?  Have  all  the  pearls  been  fished  from 
the  bottom  of  the  ocean?  The  whole  system  of  sciences  was  as 
perfect  in  the  mind  of  God  as  the  system  of  revealed  truth ;  yet 
all  are  given  to  man  to  be  sought  out ;  to  be  elaborated  by  the 
process  of  ages;  to  reward  human  diligence,  and  to  make  man  a 
"  co-worker  with  God."  u  Truth  is  the  daughter  of  time  ;"  and 
is  it  to  be  assumed  that  all  the  truth  is  not  known  ?  That  there 
is  no  error  in  the  views  with  which  we  now  hold  it  ?  That  all 
is  known  of  the  power  of  truth  yet  on  the  human  soul  ? 

I  am  now  speaking  of  the  ministry,  and  not  of  theology  in  gen- 
eral ;  and  I  am  urging  to  the  study  of  the  Bible  with  a  view  to  a 
more  successful  preaching  of  the  gospel.  It  seems  to  me  that  as 
yet  we  know  comparatively  little  of  the  power  of  preaching  the 
truths  of  the  Bible.  That  man  has  gained  much  as  a  preacher 
who  is  willing  to  investigate,  by  honest  rules,  the  meaning  of  the 
Bible,  and  then  to  suffer  the  truth  of  God  to  speak  out— no  mat- 
ter where  it  leans,  and  no  matter  on  what  man,  or  customs,  or 
systems  it  impinges.  Let  it  take  its  course  like  an  unobstructed 
stream,  or  like  a  beam  of  light  direct  from  the  sun  to  the  eyes  of 
men.  But  when  we  seek  to  make  embankments  for  the  stream, 
to  confine  it  within  channels,  such  as  we  choose,  how  much  of 
its  beauty  is  lost,  and  how  often  do  we  obstruct  it !  When  we 
interpose  media  between  us  and  the  pure  light  of  the  sun  that  we 
deem  ever  so  clear,  how  often  do  we  turn  aside  the  rays  or  divide 
the  beam  into  scattered  rays  that  may  make  a  pretty  picture,  but 
which  prevent  the  full  glory  of  the  unobstructed  sun  !  There  is 
a  power  yet  to  be  seen  in  preaching  the  Bible  which  the  world 
has  not  fully  understood ;  and  he  does  an  incalculable  service  to 
his  own  times  and  to  the  world,  who  derives  the  truths  which 
he  inculcates  directly  from  the  Book  of  life.  Besides,  the  Bible 
is  receiving  constant  illustrations  and  confirmations  from  every 
science,  and  from  every  traveler  into  the  oriental  world.     Not  a 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  lv 

man  comes  back  to  ns  from  the  east  who  does  not  give  us  some 
new  illustration  of  the  truth  or  the  beauty  of  the  Bible.  He  who 
wanders  among  the  ruins  of  Babylon;  he  who  visits  the  mount 
Of  Olives  or  Lebanon;  lie  who  gazes  upon  the  remains  of  tem- 
ples, and  palaces,  and  upon  the  dwelling-places  of  the  dead  ;  he 
who  tells  us  of  desolate  Petra  or  the  barren  rock  of  Tyre;  he  who 
describes  to  us  the  Bedouin,  or  tells  us  how  they  build  a  house  or 
pitch  a  tent  in  the  east,  is  doing  something  to  make  us  better  ac- 
quainted with  the  Bible.  A  few  years  past  have  opened  here  a 
vast  field  of  interesting  research,  and  that  research  has  turned 
the  attention  of  the  world  to  the  full  confirmation  of  the  Scrip- 
ture prophecies ;  and  for  a  theologian  there  is  now  no  field  of  in- 
vestigation more  rich  and  promising  than  this ;  and  how  can  a 
man,  whose  business  it  is  to  explain  the  oracles  of  God,  be  igno- 
rant of  it?  But  where  should  I  stop  in  the  illustration  of  this 
point?  The  minister  should  be  familiar  with  that  wonderful 
book  which  he  professes  to  explain  and  to  defend.  IBs  life  is 
none  too  long  to  make  it  the  object  of  his  study;  nor  will  the 
field  be  all  explored  when  we  die.  It  will  be  as  fresh,  and  beau- 
tiful, and  new,  too,  to  the  next  generation  as  it  is  to  us  ;  and 
when  ice  die,  so  far  from  having  reached  the  ultima  Thule  of  dis- 
covery in  the  word  of  God,  we  shall  feel  that  we  have  but  just 
entered  on  the  boundless  ocean.  I  confess  that  long  since  /have 
abandoned  all  idea  of  fully  understanding  the  Bible  in  all  its  parts 
in  this  world ;  and  I  am  amazed  when  men  gravely  suppose 
there  cannot  be  truths  there,  like  diamonds  in  the  earth,  on  which 
the  eye  has  never  yet  gazed. — The  amount  of  what  I  have  said 
on  this  point  is  this,  that  the  preacher  who  would  make  full 
proof  of  the  ministry,  should  derive  all  his  doctrines  from  tho 
word  of  God ;  he  should  be  familiar  with  all  that  can  illustrate 
the  Bible  ; — with  its  language,  its  scope,  its  design ;  with  all  in 
criticism,  archaeology,  history,  travels,  manners,  customs,  laws, 
that  shall  go  to  vindicate  its  divine  origin,  and  explain  its  mean- 
ing. From  this  pure  fountain  of  life  he  should  constantly  drink. 
Let  him  climb  the  hill  of  Calvary  rather  than  the  heights  of  Par- 
nassus, and  love  less  to  linger  at  the  Castalian  Fount  than  at 

'•'  Siloah's  brook  that  flowed 
Fast  by  the  oracle  of  God. 


lvi  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

II.  The  times  in  which  we  live  demand  a  ministry  that  shall 

*/ 

be  distinguished  for  sound  and  solid  learning.  Never,  indeed,  can 
this  qualification  be  safely  dispensed  with ;  but  there  is  not  a  lit- 
tle in  our  age  and  country"  that  peculiarly  demands  it.  In  no  na- 
tion on  the  face  of  the  earth  has  there  been  a  more  prevailing  and 
permanent  conviction  that  this  was  an  important,  if  not  an  essen- 
tial qualification  for  the  ministry,  than  in  our  own ;  and  to  this 
conviction,  and  the  natural  result  of  that  conviction  in  preparing 
the  ministry  for  its  work,  is  to  be  traced  no  small  measure  of  the 
respect  shown  to  the  sacred  office  in  our  land.  Our  countrymen 
in  general  are  qualified  to  appreciate  good  sense,  solid  learning, 
and  high  attainments,  and  they  are  prepared  to  do  honor  to  such 
attainments  wherever  they  may  be  found.  It  is  a  bright  fact  in 
our  history  that  the  first  college  in  our  land  was  founded  for  the 
purpose  of  training  up  men  for  the  Christian  ministry  ;  and  it  is  a 
fact,  that  is  at  the  same  time  honorable  to  the  solid  learning  of 
the  ministry,  and  that  bespeaks  the  confidence  which  the  com- 
munity reposes  in  the  ministry,  that  nearly  all  the  Presidents, 
and  a  very  large  portion  of  the  professors  in  our  colleges,  are,  to 
this  day,  ministers  of  the  gospel.  The  people  of  this  nation  are 
willing  that  this  state  of  things  should  continue.  They  evince 
no  impotience  under  the  working  of  the  system.  They  desire  no 
change.  The  experience  of  two  hundred  years  has  satisfied  them 
that  the  system  works  well ;  and  the  men  of  the  world,  and  even 
the  majority  of  infidels  in  the  land,  who  have  sons  to  educate,  are 
so  satisfied  with  the  propriety  of  the  arrangement,  that  all  they 
demand  is  the  evidence  of  solid  learning  united  with  piety,  to 
place  all  these  institutions  in  the  hands  of  the  ministers  of  the 
gospel. 

But  it  is  not  with  this  reference  now  that  I  advocate  the  ne- 
cessity of  solid  learning.  It  is  with  reference  to  the  immediate 
duties  of  the  pastoral  office.  I  do  not  believe  that  a  minister  of 
the  gospel  should  enter  on  his  work  with  a  view  to  become  ulti- 
mately a  President  of  a  literary  institution.  If  he  becomes  such, 
it  should  be  because  there  are  intimations  of  divine  will  that 
do  not  leave  the  question  of  duty  in  doubt.  It  is  with  reference 
to  the  office  of  Pastor ;  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  ;  to  the  busi- 
ness of  saving  souls,  that  I  now  urge  the  argument  that  the  times 
demand  a  ministry  that  shall  be  distinguished  for  solid  learning. 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  lvii 

It  should  be  for  the  following  among  many  other  reasons:  (1.) 
There  is  great  danger  of  neglecting  and  undervaluing  such  attain- 
ments. There  is  great  danger  that,  with  whatever  views  the  minis- 
try may  be  entered,  the  attention  may  be  soon  turned  from  the  pur- 
suit of  whatever  can  be  appropriately  classed  under  the  head  of 
classical  attainments,  or  whatever  bears  on  the  sciences,  or  what- 
ever marks  progress  in  the  severe  discipline  of  the  mind.  This  is 
an  age  of  action — in  the  ministry  and  in  the  world.  It  is  a  time 
when  ministers  are  called  to  a  great  amount  of  labor  ;  when  they 
are  expected  to  perform  a  much  larger  amount  of  pastoral  duties 
than  was  required  in  the  days  of  our  fathers  ;  when  the  numerous 
benevolent  institutions  of  the  age  make  a  constant  draft  on  the 
time,  and  strength,  and  toil  of  pastors  ;  when  the  cause  of  tem- 
perance, of  morals,  and  of  missions — with  numerous  kindred 
causes  depend  on  the  ministers  of  the  gospel ;  and  when,  there- 
fore, they  are  in  great  danger  of  satisfying  their  consciences  for  a 
neglect  of  classic  learning,  by  the  fact  that  they  are  called  to  a 
great  amount  of  collateral  duties.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  in  these  circumstances  a  warm-hearted  pastor  in  the  midst 
of  the  thrilling  scenes  of  a  work  of  grace,  or  in  the  pleasantness 
of  the  pastoral  intercourse,  or  in  the  wearisomeness  caused  by  the 
demands  on  his  time,  should  excuse  himself  from  the  diligent 
pursuit  of  the  somewhat  foreign  or  collateral  subjects  that  do  not 
bear  directly  on  his  work.  (2.)  Again.  This  is  an  age  when 
the  mass  of  men  are  driven  forward  by  headlong  propensities, 
and  when  there  is  danger  of  trampling  down,  in  the  pursuit  of 
honor  and  of  gold,  all  that  has  been  hitherto  regarded  as  valuable 
and  settled  in  solid  learning,  as  well  as  in  staid  and  virtuous  hab- 
its. To  careful  observers  of  the  propensities  of  this  age  it  has 
not  been  regarded  as  a  matter  of  wonder  that  the  attempt  should 
have  been  made  to  displace  classic  learning  from  the  schools,  and 
to  introduce  men  into  the  ministry  by  a  shorter  course  than  our 
fathers  thought  necessary,  and  in  such  a  way  as  to  unfit  them, 
when  in  the  ministry,  for  any  eminent  attainments  in  solid  learn- 
ing. It  is  one  of  the  regular  results  of  the  course  of  events  in 
this  age.  It  is  an  age,  say  those  who  plead  for  this,  of  enterprise 
and  action.  A  large  part  of  life,  they  go  on  to  remark,  is  wasted 
before  men  begin  to  act.  Months  and  years  are  consumed  in  the 
attainment  of  profitless  learning ;  in  the  mere  drilling  of  the 


Will  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

Christian  soldier,  while  he  ought  to  be  in  the  Held.  On  the  basis 
of  such  reasoning  as  this,  the  plan  is  formed  for  preparing  men 
for  action,  and  for  action  only.  The  classics  are  laid  aside.  The 
time  of  preparation  is  shortened.  The  field  is  to  be  entered  at  an 
earlier  age,  and  the  '  study'  is  to  be  a  place  quite  secondary  and 
unimportant  in  the  arrangements  of  the  ministerial  life.  Have 
such  men  forgotten  that  a  long  and  tedious  training,  involving, 
apparently,  a  great  waste  of  time,  is  the  allotment  of  man? 
"What  would  seem  to  be  a  greater  waste  of  time  than  that  one- 
third  of  the  ordinary  life  of  man  in  the  period  of  infancy,  child- 
hood, and  youth,  is  passed  in  the  slow  and  cumbersome  process 
of  learning  to  talk,  to  move,  to  read,  to  think,  and  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  elements  of  the  mechanic  arts?  Is  it  then  a 
departure  from  the  established  laws  of  the  world,  when  men  are 
called  by  long  and  weary  toils,  to  prepare  for  the  momentous 
work  of  leading  sinners  to  the  altar  and  the  cross  ?  Who  knows 
not  how  much  more  was  gained  on  the  field  of  Waterloo,  or  in 
the  strife  at  Trafalgar,  by  regular  and  disciplined  troops,  than 
could  have  been  done  by  raw  and  undisciplined  men?  And  who, 
when  the  banners  of  victory  float  over  the  fields  of  the  slain,  or 
the  acclamations  of  emancipated  freemen  greet  the  returning  con- 
queror, regret  the  days  of  discipline,  or  the  time  spent  in  prepar- 
ing for  conflict  ?  And  who  is  to  stand  up  against  the  headlong 
propensities  of  this  age,  if  it  be  not  the  minister  of  the  gospel  ? 
And  who  are  to  teach  our  deluded  countrymen  that  there  is  some- 
thing better  than  gold  ;  that  the  landmarks  of  opinion  and  learn- 
ing, of  morals  and  sound  sense,  are  not  to  be  trodden  down,  if  it 
be  not  the  ministers  of  religion  ?  And  where  shall  we  look  for 
that  which  will  command  the  respect  of  thinking  men,  if  it  be 
not  to  those  who  have  been  trained  with  care  in  our  schools,  and 
who  are,  by  their  office,  to  be  the  guides  and  instructors  of  man- 
kind ?  Again ;  (3.)  The  age  in  which  we  live,  is,  perhaps,  more 
than  most  former  ages,  a  period  when  the  attacks  on  Christianity 
have  been  drawn  from  learning  and  science.  Each  of  the  sciences 
as  it  has  developed  itself,  has  been  arrayed  in  some  form  against 
the  authority  of  the  Bible,  and  often  by  the  skill  of  the  adversaries 
of  the  Christian  religion  in  such  a  form  as  to  alarm  its  friends. 
At  one  time  the  argument  was  derived  from  the  disclosures  of 
modern  astronomy ;  at  another  from  the  ancient  records  of  Hin- 


OF   THE    AUTHOR.  lix 

dostan  and  China,  and  the  dynasties  of  kings  who  are  recorded  to 
have  reigned  cylces  of  ages  before  the  account,  in  Moses,  of  the 
creation;  at  another  time  the  infidel  has  gone  and  interrogated 
the  crater  of  the  volcano  and  searched  its  hardened  scoriae,  and 
made  it  tell  of  ages  long  before  the  Scripture  account  of  the  crea- 
tion of  man;  and  at  another  the  argument  has  been  drawn  from 
the  researches  of  the  geologist.  All  sciences  have  been  taxed  to 
find  objections  to  the  Bible ;  and  there  are  few  infidels  who  have 
not  derived  their  objections  from  some  form  of  pretended  learn- 
ing. In  such  an  age,  wiiat  shall  the  ministers  of  religion  do  who 
are  unable  to  defend  the  book,  to  vindicate  and  explain  which  is 
the  business  of  their  lives  ?  In  this,  strife  and  declamation  will 
not  do  for  argument ;  nor  will  assertion,  however  confident  or 
fierce,  satisfy  thinking  men.  The  minister  of  the  gospel  should, 
as  he  easily  may,  command  the  respect  of  his  fellow-men,  and 
should  show  them — as  he  easily  may,  without  ostentation — that 
he  is  not  unworthy  the  confidence  due  to  one  in  the  office  which 
he  sustains. 

I  am  not  ignorant  of  the  objections  which  may  be  felt  and  urg- 
ed to  these  remarks.  I  know  it  may  be  asked  how  is  time  to  be 
found  for  these  attainments  ?  How  shall  health  be  secured  for 
these  objects  ?  And  another  question,  not  less  important,  how 
shall  the  heart  be  kept,  and  the  fire  of  devotion  be  maintained, 
brightly  burning  on  the  altar  of  the  heart,  while  making  these 
preparations  ?  I  should  transcend  all  reasonable  bounds  in  my 
remarks,  if  I  were  to  attempt  to  go  fully  into  an  answer  to  these 
inquiries.  .  I  would  only  observe  that  it  may  be  at  least  question- 
able whether  all  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  have  just  that  sense 
of  the  value  of  time  which  they  ought  to  have,  and  whether  all 
make  full  proof  of  their  ministry  in  the  utmost  cultivation  of  their 
powers.  The  question  whether  the  diligence  of  the  student  and 
the  faithfulness  of  the  pastor  can  be  united :  whether  the  intel- 
lect may  be  intensely  cultivated  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  the 
growth  of  grace  in  the  heart ;  and  whether  time  can  be  secured 
for  the  pursuit  of  these  objects,  and  yet  not  interfere  with  the 
public  duties  of  the  ministry  ;  whether  a  man  may  so  study  as  to 
contribute  something  to  carry  forward  the  intellect  of  his  age,  and 
yet  not  interfere  with  his  duties  in  the  pulpit,  in  the  prayer-meet- 
ing, in  the  Bible-class,  and  in  family  visitation,  and  so  as  to  secure 


lx  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

permanent  health  also  is  a  question  which  it  would  be  of  im- 
mense importance  to  settle.  "  What  shall  we  say  to  the  nine 
ponderous  folios  of  Augustine,  and  nearly  the  same  number  of 
Chrysostom,  volumes  not  written  like  Jerome's  in  monastic  re- 
tirement, but  in  the  midst  of  almost  daily  preaching  engage- 
ments, and  conflicting,  anxious,  and  responsible  duties  ?"  What 
shall  we  say  of  the  nine  folios  of  Calvin — the  most  diligent 
preacher  of  his  age — the  man  who  read  every  week  in  the  year, 
three  lectures  in  divinity  ;  and  who  preached  two  hundred  and 
eighty-six  times  in  the  year  ?  What  shall  we  say  to  the  folios 
of  Baxter,  the  most  laborious  pastor  and  the  most  successful  min- 
ister of  his  day  ?  What  shall  we  say  of  the  volumes  of  Edwards, 
perhaps  the  most  laborious  student,  as  he  was  the  profoundest 
man  and  the  best  preacher  of  his  time  ?  In  that  great  man,  as- 
suredly, profound  study  never  interfered  with  humble-hearted 
piety ;  and  in  him  the  contemplation  of  the  most  abstruse  sub- 
jects of  metaphysical  inquiry  did  not  interfere  with  the  most  sim- 
ple style  of  preaching,  or  with  that  solemn  and  effective  elo- 
quence of  the  heart  which  bathes  a  congregation  in  tears.  But 
I  cannot  enlarge  on  this  point.  The  sum  of  my  remarks  is,  that 
we  may  not  in  this  age  have  learned  the  art  of  making  full  proof 
of  our  ministry,  and  that  there  may  be  a  blending  of  study,  and 
piety,  and  pastoral  fidelity  such  as  shall  greatly  augment  the  use- 
fulness of  those  who  minister  at  the  altar. 

III.  The  times  demand  a  ministry  of  sober  views  ;  of  settled 
habits  of  industry  ;  of  plain  practical  good  sense ;  of  sound  and 
judicious  modes  of  thinking ;  a  ministry  that  shall  be  patient, 
equable,  persevering,  and  that  shall  look  for  success  ra'ther  in  the 
proper  results  of  patient  toil,  than  in  new  experiments,  and  new 
modes  of  doing  things.  Against  real  improvements,  and  plans 
that  shall  really  save  labor,  or  that  shall  be  a  wise  adaptation  of 
skill  to  save  labor,  no  good  man  can  utter  a  word.  Such  plans 
are  not  to  be  rejected  merely  because  they  appear  to  be  innova- 
tions, nor  is  anything  to  be  set  down  as  certainly  wrong  because 
it  is  new.  If  a  doctrine  or  measure  be  true  and  wise,  no  minister 
of  the  gospel  should  be  found  in  opposition  to  it.  But  the  idea 
which  I  wish  to  convey,  is,  that  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  should 
not  expect  to  accomplish  their  objects  by  anything  which  con- 
templates success  as  the  mere  result  of  new  and  untried  experi- 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  ixi 

merits,  or  anything  which  shall  be  originated  to  avoid  severe,  and 
patient,  and  protracted  toil.  Success  should  not  be  expected  from 
that  which  is  adapted  merely  to  startle,  shock,  surprise,  confound, 
or  perplex.  Success  should  not  be  looked  for  as  the  result  of 
scheming,  of  dark  plans,  of  unusual  modes  of  thought,  of  para- 
doxes in  theology,  or  in  an  affected  originality.  The  men  who 
enter  the  ministry  should  be  men  who  will  be  willing  to  labor 
patiently  as  long  as  may  be  necessary  to  accomplish  an  object ; 
to  tread  on  if  necessary,  in  a  path  which  has  been  trodden  by 
thousands  before ;  and  at  the  close  of  life  to  look  back  upon  re- 
sults gained  by  patient  toil  rather  than  on  the  results  of  fitful 
efforts,  however  brilliant,  or  which  have  only  served  to  startle 
and  amaze  mankind.  Need  I  state  reasons  why  the  -age  de- 
mands such  a  ministry  ?  Not  so  much  for  the  purpose  of  stating 
reasons  as  for  illustrating  what  I  mean,  I  would  refer  to  the  fol- 
lowing summary  of  points  which  I  have  not  room  to  illustrate 
at  length.  (1.)  The  people  of  our  nation,  and  our  ancestors  in 
our  father-land,  have  hitherto  been  distinguished  among  other 
nations  for  this :  for  what  is  sensible  and  solid  rather  than  for 
what  is  brilliant ;  for  the  useful  rather  than  the  visionary ;  for 
patient  toil  rather  than  for  mere  experiment ;  for  what  Mr. 
Locke  calls  "  large,  sound,  round-about  sense ;"  a  trait  of  charac- 
ter which  has  given  us  some  advantages,  at  least,  over  the  vola- 
tile Frenchman,  the  dull  and  dark  Spaniard,  the  effeminate  Ita- 
lian, and  the  visionary  and  contemplative  German :  and  it  is 
desirable  that  the  ministiy  should  do  something,  at  least,  to 
maintain  this  trait  in  the  national  character.  (2.)  The  age  in 
which  we  live  is  becoming  visionary,  and  wild,  and  headlong  in 
its  propensities.  Bubbles  swell  and  burst  on  every  side ;  fancied 
cities  of  extreme  beauty  and  eminent  commercial  advantages,  on 
paper,  rise  on  every  hill,  and  in  every  vale,  and  beside  every 
water-fall  and  stream,  and  fall,  and  are  succeeded  by  others  as 
rapidly  as  if  they  were  some  splendid  moving  pageant ;  fortunes 
are  made  and  lost  as  if  men  were  playing  marbles,  or  as  if  the 
business  of  life  had  become  the  sports  of  children.  (3.)  There  is 
a  tendency  to  crowd  these  things  into  religion,  and  to  pursue  the 
work  of  religion,  and  the  business  of  saving  souls,  by  plans  as 
wild  as  those  by  which  men  seek  gain.  Novel  theories  are 
broached  ;  novel  plans  formed  ;  associations  are  entered  into  for 


lxil  LIFE    AND   TIMES 

impracticable  purposes ;  and  opinions  are  started  anew  and  advo- 
cated, which  experience  has  shown  to  have  been  wild,  and  false, 
and  dangerous  centuries  ago.  Soon  many  of  those  plans  are 
abandoned — as  the  paper  cities  disappear  from  the  map  of  the 
nation  ;  or  the  vain  speculator  in  theology  gains  as  much  wisdom 
and  knowledge  as  the  speculator  in  lands  and  town  lots  does 
gold  ;  and  time  is  wasted  for  '*  that  which  is  not  bread,  and  labor 
for  that  which  satisfieth  not." 

(4.)  From  such  bubbles,  and  from  mere  experiments,  the  min- 
istry should  stand  aloof.  These  games,  if  they  must  be  played, 
should  be  played  by  the  world.  By  example,  and  by  precept,  by 
a  patient,  sober,  practical  life,  as  well  as  by  preaching,  the  min- 
isters of  the  gospel  are  to  recall  men  to  the  soberness  of  truth.  A 
preacher  has  no  time  to  lose  in  mere  experiments;  none  to 
squander  in  idle  speculations.  The  average  length  of  time  in  the 
ministry  in  this  country  is  probably  not  twenty  years ;  and  all 
that  time  may  be  filled  up  in  a  course  of  undoubted  wisdom,  and 
a  warfare  with  evil,  where  not  one  blow  shall  be  struck  on  the 
empty  air. 

(5.)  Again.  The  age  in  which  we  live  is  becoming  distinguished 
not  merely  for  pursuits  of  things  of  little  or  no  promise  or  utility, 
but  for  putting  things  of  real  value  out  of  their  places ;  or  for  the 
disproportionate  location  of  things  of  real  worth.  There  are  mul- 
titudes of  men  who  become  eminent,  not  for  pursuing  an  object  of 
no  importance,  but  for  pursuing  it  in  a  manner  which  requires 
everything  else  to  give  place  to  it.  Some  one  favorite  project  is 
held  so  near  to  the  eye,  that  nothing  else  is  seen  ;  and  they  are 
distinguished  for  what  is  known  in  a  homely,  but  expressive 
phrase,  for  riding  hobbies.  With  one,  temperance  is  everything  ; 
with  another,  the  tract  cause ;  with  another,  the  Bible  cause ;  with 
another,  the  cause  of  moral  reform  ;  with  another,  the  rights  of 
the  slave  ;  and  so  on  through  all  the  catalogue  of  the  plans  of  be- 
nevolence, wise  and  unwise.  With  one,  the  age  goes  too  fast ;  and 
the  great  design  of  the  ministry  is  to  "  stand  still  and  hold  back  ;" 
and  with  another,  the  age  goes  to  slow ;  and  the  object  of  the 
ministry  is,  Jehu-like,  to  spur  on  its  sluggish  movements.  Many 
or  most  of  these  things  are  seen  and  admitted  to  be  important ; 
and  they  who  do  not  see  them  as  their  advocates  do,  are  de- 
nounced as  accessories  to  the  evils  to  be  remedied,  or  as  time- 
servers.     All  the  interests  of  the  church  and  the  state  ;  of  Chris- 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  ]xHl 

tian  and  heathen  lands,  are  made  to  turn  on  the  success  of  the 
one  project;  and  he  who  does  not  see  it  as  the  zealous  advocate 
does,  is  held  up  as  recreant  to  his  master.  Now,  however  natu- 
ral this  amiable  propensity  may  be  to  men  who  have  but  one 
cause  to  advocate,  yet  it  is  not  the  feeling  which  is  to  be  culti- 
vated by  the  ministry  of  the  gospel.  The  pastor,  the  great  guar- 
dian, under  God,  of  the  dearest  interests  of  benevolence,  of  social 
order,  and  of  the  rights  of  man,  is  to  look  out  with  a  well- 
balanced  mind,  and  a  clear  and  calm  eye,  upon  all  the  interests 
of  benevolence.  He  is  to  endeavor  to  look  upon  things  in  their 
just  proportions.  He  is  to  look  abroad  upon  the  world.  Tem- 
perance is  not  everything ;  nor  is  the  cause  of  foreign  missions, 
or  domestic  missions,  or  tracts,  or  human  liberty  everything. 
They  are  parts  of  one  great  whole;  the  plans  for  these  and  kin- 
dred objects  are  bright  and  beautiful  portions  in  the  great  pic- 
ture of  benevolence.  To  the  pastoral  office  we  look  that  these 
objects  should  be  held  up  in  their  proper  proportions  ;  and  the 
moment  when  the  pastor  loses  the  proper  balance  of  his  mind, 
and  begins  to  ride  "  a. hobby,"  that  moment  his  usefulness  begins 
to  wane. 

(6.)  One  other  thought  under  this  head.  The  age  demands  a 
ministry  distinguished  for  sober  industry.  There  is  enough  to 
accomplish  to  demand  all  the  time,  and  it  cannot  be  accomplished 
by  mere  genius,  or  by  fitful  efforts.  It  must  be  by  patient  toil. 
An  industrious  man,  no  matter  what  his  talents,  will  always 
make  himself  respectable ;  an  indolent  man,  no  matter  what  his 
genius,  never  can  be.  In  the  ministry,  pre-eminently,  no  man 
should  presume  on  his  genius,  or  talents,  or  superiority  to  the 
mass  of  minds  around  him.  A  man  owes  his  best  efforts  to  his 
people,  and  to  his  master ;  to  the  one  by  a  solemn  compact  when 
he  becomes  their  pastor,  to  the  other  by  sacred  covenant  when 
deeply  feeling  the  guilt  of  sin  and  the  grateful  sense  of  pardon, 
he  gave  himself  to  the  great  Redeemer  in  the  ministry  of  recon- 
ciliation. An  idle  man  in  the  ministry  is  a  violator  of  at  least 
two  sacred  compacts ;  and  upon  such  a  man  God  will  not,  does 
not  smile. 

IV.  The  times  demand  men  in  the  ministry  who  shall  be  the 
warm  and  unflinching  advocates  of  every  good  cause. 


lxiv  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

(1.)  Men  are  required  who  shall  have  so  well-settled  and  in- 
telligent views  of  truth  as  not  to  be  afraid  of  the  examination  of 
any  opinion,  or  afraid  to  defend  any  sentiment  which  is  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  word  of  God.  They  should  be  men  of  such 
independence  of  mind,  that  they  will  examine  every  subject,  and 
every  opinion  that  may  be  submitted  to  them,  or  on  which  they 
may  be  called  to  act.  The  times  are  not  theoretically  against 
free  discussion  and  the  independent  maintenance  of  one's  own 
opinions.  The  character  of  the  age  will  not  tolerate  that.  But 
the  secret  aim  is,  to  screen  a  few  points  from  examination.  It  is 
so  to  present  the  authority  of  past  times  and  of  great  names,  as  to 
secure  certain  points  from  examination.  Now  the  pulpit  is  to 
be  one  place — if  the  last  in  the  world — of  free  and  independent 
examination  of  all  the  opinions  which  can  affect  the  destiny  or 
the  duty  of  man.  Should  the  right  of  free  examination  and  of 
free  discussion  be  driven  from  the  capitol ;  should  the  conductors 
of  the  press  cower  before  the  outbreaking*  of  popular  violence  ; 
should  men  in  all  other  places  succeed  in  isolating  certain  sub- 
jects as  points  which  are  never  to  be  examined  ;  yet  the  pulpit 
is  to  remain  as  the  last  place  to  which  liberty  is  to  take  its 
flight,  and  in  the  sanctuary  men  are  to  breathe  freely,  and  to  be 
allowed  to  speak  their  emotions  with  no  one  to  make  them 
afraid.  Our  lathers,  in  this  commonwealth,  worshipped  God 
with  arms  in  their  hands,  to  guard  themselves  from  the  attacks 
of  savage  barbarians.  Not  with  such  arms,  we  trust,  are  we  to 
defend  the  right  of  free  discussion;  but  such  a  wilderness  is 
again  to  be  sought — if  there  remains  such  an  one  on  the  earth  — 
and  such  perils  again  encountered,  before  the  sons  of  the  pilgrims 
shall  yield  the  right  of  the  free  expression  of  their  sentiments  in 
the  pulpit,  on  all  the  great  questions  that  affect  the  welfare  of 
man.  The  man  of  God  is  to  enter  that  sacred  place  with  his 
Bible  as  his  guide,  and  is  to  be  unawed  in  its  exposition  by  any 
great  names;  by  any  fear  of 'personal  violence  ;  by  any  decrees 
of  councils;  or  by  any  laws  which  this  world  can  ever  promul- 
gate to  fetter  the  freedom  of  thought.  There,  at  least,  is  to  be 
one  place  where  truth  may  be  examined,  and  where  the  voice 
of  God  may  be  heard  in  our  world ;  and  there,  as  long  as  he 
who  holds  the  stars  in  his  right  hand  shall  continue  life,  is  the 
truth  to  shine  forth  on  a  dark  world. 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  1XV 

2.  Men  arc  required  in  the  ministry  who  shall  be  the  warm 
and  decided  friends  of  the  temperance  reformation  ;  and  whose 
opinions  and  practice  on  this  subject  shall  be  shaped  by  the  strict- 
est laws  of  morals.  For  this  opinion,  the  reasons  are  plain.  The 
temperance  reform  is  one  of  the  features  of  the  age.  Revolutions 
do  not  go  backward ;  and  this  cause  is  destined,  it  is  believed,  to 
triumph,  and  ultimately  to  settle  down  on  the  principles  of  the 
most  strict  morals.  It  was  a  sage  remark  of  Jefferson,  that  no. 
good  cause  is  undertaken  and  persevered  in,  which  does  not  ulti- 
mately overcome  every  obstacle  and  secure  a  final  triumph  ;  and 
if  anything  certain  respecting  the  future  can  be  argued  from  the 
past,  it  is  that  this  cause  will  secure  an  ultimate  victory.  The 
people  will  carry  it  forward,  whatever  may  be  the  feelings  of  the 
ministers  of  the  gospel.  Now,  it  is  not  only  the  duty  of  the  min- 
isters of  religion  to  be  foremost  in  "  every  good  word  and  work," 
but  it  is  a  fact  that  they  may  soon  be  left  far  in  the  rear  in  this 
cause,  and  a  fact  that  such  a  position  will  materially  impede 
their  own  work.  A  people  zealous  in  the  cause  of  temperance 
will  not  long  sit  under  the  ministrations  of  a  man  who  indulges 
in  intoxicating  drinks ;  nor  can  he,  by  any  eloquence  in  preach- 
ing, counteract  the  effect  which  this  single  fact  will  have  on  their 
minds.  Besides,  the  ministry  has  already  suffered  enough  from 
intemperance.  Not  a  few  men  in  this  land,  of  the  brightest 
talent  that  was  ever  adapted  to  adorn  the  pulpit,  have  fallen  a 
sacrifice  to  this  destroyer ;  and  they  have  left  their  names  to  be 
mentioned  hereafter  with  pity  and  dishonor. 

(3.)  In  like  manner,  the  times  demand  a  ministry  that  shall 
be  the  unflinching  advocates  of  revivals  of  religion.  Such  men 
lived  in  other  times ;  and  such  scenes  blessed  the  land  where 
Davis,  and  Edwards,  and  Whitfield,  and  the  Tennents  lived. 
What  is  needed  now  is  the  ministry  of  men  who  have  an  intelli- 
gent faith  in  revivals;  who  have  no  fear  of  the  effects  which 
truth,  under  the  direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  shall  have  on  the 
mind  ;  who  shall  so  far  understand  the  philosophy  of  revivals  as 
to  be  able  to  vindicate  them  when  assailed,  and  to  show  to  men 
of  intelligence  that  they  are  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  our 
nature ;  and  whose  preaching  shall  be  such  as  shall  be  fitted, 
under  the  direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  secure  such  results  on 
the  minds  of  men.     To   revivals   of  religion  our  country  owes 


lx 


VI  LIFE    AND    TIMES 


more  than  all  other   moral   causes   put  together  ;  and  if  our  in- 
stitutions are  preserved  in  safety,  it  must  be  by  such  extraordi- 
nary manifestations  of  the  presence  and  the  power  of  God.     Our 
sons  forsake  the  homes  of  their  fathers  ;  they  wander  away  from 
the  place  of  schools  and  churches  to  the  wilderness  of  the  west ; 
they  go  from  the  sound  of  the  Sabbath-bell,  and  they  forget  the 
Sabbath  and  the  Bible,  and  the  place  of  prayer ;  they  leave  the 
places  where  thhir  fathers  sleep  in  their  graves,  and  they  forget 
the  religion  which  sustained  and  comforted  them.     They  go  for 
gold,  and  they  wander  over  the  prairie,  they  fell  the  forest,  they 
ascend  the  stream  in  pursuit  of  it,  and  they  trample  down  the 
law  of  the  Sabbath  ;  and  soon,  too,  forget  the  laws  of  honesty 
and  fair-dealing,  in  the  insatiable  love  of  gain.     Meantime,  every 
man,  such  is  our  freedom,  may  advance  any  sentiments  lie  pleases. 
He  may  defend  them  by  all  the  power  of  argument,  and  enforce 
them   by  all   the   eloquence   of  persuasion.     He  may  clothe  his 
corrupt  sentiments  in  the  charms  of  verse,  and  he  may  make  a 
thousand  cottages  beyond  the  mountains  re-echo  with  the  cor- 
rupt and  the  corrupting  strain.     He  may  call  to  his  aid  the  power 
of  the  press,  and  may   secure   a  lodgment  for  his  infidel  senti- 
ments in  the  most  distant  habitation  in  the  republic.     What  can 
meet  this  state  of  things,  and  arrest  the  evils  that  spread  with 
the  fleetness  of  the  courser  or  the  wind  ?     What  can  pursue  and 
overtake   these  wanderers   but  revivals   of  religion — but  that 
Spirit  which,  like  the  wind,  acts  where  it  pleases  ?     Yet  they 
must  be  pursued.     If  our  sons  go  thus,  they  are   to  be  followed 
and  reminded  of  the  commands  of  God.     None  of  them  are  to  be 
suffered  to  go  to  any  fertile  vale  or  prairie  in  the  west  without 
the  institutions  of  the  gospel ;  nor  are  they  to  be  suffered  to  con- 
struct a  hamlet,  or  to  establish  a  village,  or  to  build  a  city  that 
shall  be  devoted  to  any  other  God  than  the  God  of  their  fathers. 
By  all  the  self-denials  of  benevolence ;  by  all  the  power  of  ar- 
gument; by  all  the  implored  influences  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  they 
are  to  be  persuaded  to  plant  there  the  rose  of  Sharon,  and  to 
make  the  wilderness  and  the  solitary  place  to  be  glad,  and  the 
desert  to  bud  and  blossom  as  the  rose.     In  such  circumstances 
God  has  interposed ;  and  he  has  thus  blessed  our  own  land  and 
times  with  signal  revivals  of  religion. 

Our  whole  country  thus  far  has  been  guarded  and  protected 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  lxvii 

by  the  presence  of  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  and  "  American  revivals  " 
have  been  the  objects  of  the  most  intense  interest  among  those 
in  other  lands  who  have  sought  to  understand  the  secret  of  our 
prosperity.  That  man  who  enters  the  pulpit  with  a  cold  heart 
and  a  doubtful  mind,  in  regard  to  such  works  of  grace ;  who 
looks  with  suspicion  on  the  means  which  the  Spirit  of  God  has 
appointed  and  blessed  for  this  object  in  past  times;  and  who  co- 
incides with  the  enemies  of  revivals  in  denouncing  them  as  fana- 
ticism, understands  as  little  the  history  of  his  own  country  as  he 
does  the  laws  of  the  human  mind  and  the  Bible,  and  lacks  the 
spirit  which  a  man  should  have  who  stands  in  an  American 
pulpit. 

(4.)  Men  are  required  who  shall  stand  up  as  the  firm  advo- 
cates of  missions,  and  of  every  proper  project  for  the  world's  con- 
version.    That  great  design  of  bringing  this  whole  world,  by  the 
divine  blessing,  under  the  influence  of  Christian  truth,  is  one  of 
the  strong  features  of  the  age ;  and  the  hope  and  expectation  of 
it  has  seized  upon  the  churches  with  a  tenacity  which  will  not 
be  relaxed.     The  plan  is  not  the  work  of  a  moment,  and  has  none 
of  the  marks  of  enthusiasm.     There  never  was  a  plan  of  conquest 
that  was  so  deliberately  formed,  or  that  enlisted  so  many  hearts 
before.     Schemes  of  victory  to  be  gained  by  blood  have  usually 
been  formed  by  some  one  master  mind — some  ambitious  monarch 
or  warrior,  while  the  nation  over  which  he  ruled  had  no  sympa- 
thy with  the  plan,  and  no  agency  in  its  formation ;  or  where  the 
army  was  led  on  by  the  strength  of  military  discipline  alone. 
But  this  is  not  the  origin  of  the  plan  for  securing  the  conquest  of 
this  world  for  God.     It  is  no  plan  of  a  leader  simply  ;  it  has  been 
formed  by  the  church  at  large — the  mass  of  Christians  who  are 
prepared  to  go  on  with  it  whether  the  ministers  of  religion  will 
or  will  not  guide  them.     The  church  at  large  will  bear  with  no 
patience  opposition  in  the  ministry  to  this  great  undertaking  ;  nor 
can  a  minister  long  hold  his  place  in  the  confidence  and  affections 
of  the  church,  whose  heart  is  not  in  this  work.     He  who  does 
not  enter  on  this  work  prepared  to  devote  his  talents  and  learn- 
ing, his  heart  and  bodily  powers  to   the  advancement  of  this 
cause,  has  not  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  falls  behind  the  times  in 
which  he  lives. 

(5.)  The  times  demand  men  in  the  ministry  who  shall  be  men 


lxviii  LIFE    AND    TIMES 

of  peace.  The  period  has  arrived  in  the  history  of  the  world 
when  there  should  be  a  full  and  fair  illustration  of  the  power  of 
the  gospel  to  produce  a  spirit  of  peace  in  the  hearts  of  all  the 
ambassadors  of  him  who  was  the  "Prince  of  Peace."  The  fond- 
ness for  theological  combat  and  ecclesiastical  gladiatorship,  has 
been  one  of  the  most  remarkable  characteristics  pertaining  to  tho 
character  of  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  in  past  times,  and  ono 
which  it  may  be  difficult  to  account  for.  In  a  portion  of  tho 
ministry,  to  a  melancholy  extent,  this  has  been  a  characteristic 
of  the  ministry  of  the  present  times.  Whatever  may  have  been 
the  causes,  and  whoever  may  have  been  to  blame,  it  is  certain 
that  this  spirit  of  contention  and  strife  is  one  of  the  things  which 
has  been  most  apparent  for  a  few  past  years  ;  and  that  the  wea- 
pons of  war  are  still  kept  furbished,  and  that  the  champions  are 
not  disposed  to  lay  them  aside.  Having  tried  these  weapons 
long  enough,  with  only  the  advantage  that  accrues  to  an  army 
in  a  dark  night,  when  one  part  of  the  army  draws  the  sword  on 
another,  there  is  now  needed  a  ministry  that  shall  follow  after 
the  things  that  make  for  peace  ;"  where  there  shall  be  mutual 
confidence  and  charity  ;  where  there  shall  be  candor  for  one 
another's  imperfections ;  where  there  shall  be  toleration  of 
opinions  on  points  that  do  not  affect  the  essentials  of  Christian 
doctrine ;  and  where  there  shall  be  harmony  of  view  and  action 
on  the  great  work  of  saving  the  world.  For  twenty  years,  it 
may  be  remarked,  particularly,  the  din  of  ecclesiastical  strife  has 
been  heard  again  within  the  bounds  of  that  Christian  community 
of  which  Davies  was  a  minister  and  a  member  ;  and  again,  as  in 
his  time,  that  church  has  been  rent  in  twain,  and  the  noise  of  the 
strife  has  been  heard  afar.  This  strife  has  been  long  enough. 
Enough  of  that  glory  lias  been  achieved,  for  one  age,  which  can 
be  achieved  by  arraying  brother  against  brother,  and  altar  against 
altar;  by  skill  in  noisy  polemics  and  in  harsh  denunciation  ;  by 
rending  the  church  asunder,  and  by  triumph  where  victory  is 
always  equal  to  defeat.  We  want  now  men  of  peace,  and  cha- 
rity, and  love  ;  men  who  can  bear  and  forbear,  men  who  will 
not  "  make  a  brother  an  offender  for  a  word ;'  men  who  shall  be 
more  anxious  to  convert  a  sinner  from  the  errors  of  his  ways  than 
to  defend  the  "  shibboleth  "  of  party.  Such  men,  too,  the  church 
will  soon  have.  It  requires  now  all  the  zeal  and  talent  of  the 
leaders  in  the  strife  to  convince  the  mass  of  Christians  that  the 


OF    THE    AUTHOR.  lxiX 

controversy  is  of  any  importance  ;  and  even  that  slight  sense  of 
the  importance  of  the  points  for  which  there  is  such  a  noise  of 
contention,  is  fast  dying  away. 

It  is  an  auspicious  circumstance  in  these  times,  that  there  is 
such  a  demand  for  such  works  as  those  of  President  Davies,  as 
to  warrant  their  republication.  The  effect  of  the  study  of  such 
models  on  the  ministry  and  on  the  churches,  cannot  but  be 
auspicious  to  the  cause  of  evangelical  religion.  It  is  one  of  the 
honors  of  our  country,  young  though  we  are,  that  we  do  not  lack 
for  examples  of  the  highest  order  of  preaching ;  and  even  now, 
when  we  look  through  a  great  library  for  the  best  models,  we 
instinctively  fix  on  some  that  have  been  produced  on  this  side  the 
ocean.  The  purest  models  of  preaching  are  to  be  found  un- 
doubtedly, in  the  discourses  of  the  apostles  and  of  the  Great- 
Preacher;  but  after  leaving  those  times,  we  shall  find  no  land, 
probably,  where  there  have  been  exhibited  more  correct  speci- 
mens of  pure  classic  style,  of  sober  thought,  of  instructive  dis- 
courses, of  appeals  adapted  to  rouse  the  concience  of  a  sinner, 
or  to  warm  the  heart  of  a  child  of  God,  than  have  been  furnished 
in  our  own  land.  The  American  pulpit,  imperfect  as  it  is,  is 
more  elevated  in  its  influence  and.power  than  that  of  any  other 
nation  ;  and  in  no  other  country  is  its  influence  so  justly  appre- 
ciated or  so  deeply  felt  on  the  public  mind.  Much  as  we  may 
revere  the  memory  of  the  past ;  much  as  we  may  learn  from  the 
wisdom  of  other  generations ;  and  much  as  we  may  honor  those 
who  have  been  or  are  distinguished  for  eminent  usefulness  across 
the  waters,  yet  if  we  wish  to  see  the  power  of  preaching  exem- 
plified in  the  hearts  of  men,  and  to  derive  instruction  from  the 
lives  and  success  of  those  of  other  times,  we  cannot  find  a  more 
appropiate  place  than  to  sit  down  at  the  feet  of  such  men  as 
Davies,  and  Edwards,  and  the  Tennents,  and  Strong,  and  Pay- 
son,  and  Dwight,  and  Griffin,  and  Bedell.  It  will  be  an  honor  to 
tread  in  the  footsteps  of  such  men;  it  is  an  indication  of  a  health- 
ful tone  in  the  public  sentiment,  and  of  holy  aspirings  in  the 
candidates  for  the  holy  office,  when  the  works  of  these  men 
shall  be  demanded  from  the  press;  it  is  an  indication  of  good 
when  the  times  require  the  republication  of  such  discourses  as 
are  here  given  again  to  the  public — the  warm,  glowing,  fervent, 
eloquent  sermons  of  the  much  lamented  President  of  Nassau 
Hall. 


I 


• 


